Photo: Lrgjr72 · CC BY-SA 4.0Royal Oak’s library lends 5.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Royal Oak Public Library serves Royal Oak’s 58,211 residents. Last year it lent 548K books, movies and e-books and logged 186K visits.
Royal Oak’s library, in brief
Top 10% in Michigan for kids’ borrowing
Royal Oak ranks #9 of 91 Michigan towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. It’s 39% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Royal Oak’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Royal Oak is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #485 of 697 in Michigan. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Royal Oak’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
194 community nonprofits are registered in Royal Oak
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (39 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.5%
8.5% of Royal Oak’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’s residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
548K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 131K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
214,195 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Royal Oak Public Library serves 58,211 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 173 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Royal Oak last year.
Find it
Royal Oak Public Library, 222 East Eleven Mile Road, Royal Oak.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Royal Oak? 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 $2.64 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Royal Oak cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 26,851 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Royal Oak ranks 3rd of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale | Ferndale Public Library fine-free | 16.4 | 58 | A− |
| Troy | Troy Public Library fine-free | 11.3 | 65 | B |
| Royal Oak | Royal Oak Public Library fine-free | 9.4 | 61 | B− |
| Berkley | Berkley Public Library fine-free | 9.1 | 51 | A |
| Clawson | Blair Memorial Library | 6.2 | 38 | B+ |
| Madison Heights | Madison Heights Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 51 | C |
| Hazel Park | Hazel Park Memorial Library fine-free | 2.4 | 42 | C+ |
| Huntington Woods | Huntington Woods Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | A |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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
Does Royal Oak have a public library?
Yes. Royal Oak Public Library, 222 East Eleven Mile Road, serves Royal Oak’s 58,211 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Royal Oak Public 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 Royal Oak’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 9.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Royal Oak’s civic life grade?
B− Royal Oak is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #485 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 Royal Oak.
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.