Photo: Lrgjr72 · CC BY-SA 4.0Royal Oak Township Public Library serves Royal Oak Township’s 2,374 residents
Royal Oak Township Public Library serves Royal Oak Township’s 2,374 residents.
What’s behind Royal Oak Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Royal Oak Township is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Royal Oak Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Royal Oak Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
The survey’s stand-in for Royal Oak Township’s 2024 visits carries forward a 2020 figure, so it is left out.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$60K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
Royal Oak Township has few registered community nonprofits
0.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.6%
12.6% of Royal Oak Township’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 Royal Oak Township’s residents live; 2022.
A year at Royal Oak Township Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits and print loans. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Find it
Royal Oak Township Public Library, 21131 Garden Lane, Ferndale.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Royal Oak Township resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 2,374 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Royal Oak Township Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2020 figure, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- Not reported for 2024: print loans. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Royal Oak Township
Does Royal Oak Township have a public library?
Yes. Royal Oak Township Public Library, 21131 Garden Lane, serves Royal Oak Township’s 2,374 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Royal Oak Township Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Royal Oak Township’s library?
It lent 0.0 items per resident in 2024 (print). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Royal Oak Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Royal Oak Township is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Royal Oak Township.
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.