Portage’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Portage District Library serves 56,304 people in and around Portage. Last year it lent 860K books, movies and e-books and logged 166K visits.
The short version on Portage’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 60% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Portage District Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 24% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
The Portage branch is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Portage District Library serves 56,304 people in and around Portage, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Portage’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Portage is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns, #466 of 697 in Michigan. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
182 community nonprofits are registered in Portage
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (36 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.4%
8.4% of Portage’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 12.4% in the typical Michigan town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Portage’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Portage District Library serves 56,304 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 252 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Portage District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
860K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
209,576 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Portage District Library, 300 Library Lane, Portage.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Portage District Library branch.
New in Portage? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Portage cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $13M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.1M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 33,182 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage | Portage District Library fine-free | — | 66 | B− |
| Kalamazoo | Kalamazoo Public Library fine-free | — | 64 | A− |
| Schoolcraft Township | Vicksburg District Library | — | 58 | A− |
| Pavilion Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Texas Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Portage District Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Portage District Library serves 56,304 people in and around Portage, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Portage.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Portage
Does Portage have a public library?
Yes. Portage District Library, 300 Library Lane, serves 56,304 people in and around Portage (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Portage District Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Portage’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 15.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Portage’s civic life grade?
B− Portage is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life, #466 of 697 in Michigan. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Portage.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.