Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Traverse City’s library lends 8.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Traverse Area District Library serves 106,726 people in and around Traverse City. Last year it lent 1.1M books, movies and e-books and logged 363K visits.
Traverse City’s library, in brief
A system of heavy borrowers
Traverse Area District Library lends 8.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries serving 100,000+ people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Open about 67 hours a week
The Traverse City branch is open about 67 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; Traverse Area District Library serves 106,726 people in and around Traverse City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Traverse City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Traverse City is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns, #55 of 697 in Michigan. Traverse City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
89 community nonprofits are registered in Traverse City
5.7 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
11.9%
11.9% of Traverse City’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 Traverse City’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
186,763 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Traverse Area District Library serves 106,726 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 137 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Traverse Area District Library system. The library’s own count.
About 16 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.
Find it
Traverse Area District Library, 610 Woodmere Avenue, Traverse City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Traverse Area District Library branch.
New in Traverse City? 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 $2.93 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Traverse City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $17M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6M budget.
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 cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 60,859 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peninsula Township | Peninsula Community Library fine-free | 4.4 | 43 | A− |
| Traverse City | Traverse Area District Library | — | 67 | A |
| East Bay Township | East Bay Branch Library | — | 39 | — too few inputs |
| Garfield Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Elmwood Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Greilickville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- System-wide. Traverse Area District Library serves 106,726 people in and around Traverse City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Traverse City.
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 Traverse City
Does Traverse City have a public library?
Yes. Traverse Area District Library, 610 Woodmere Avenue, serves 106,726 people in and around Traverse City (the survey’s count) and is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Traverse Area District Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Traverse City’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Traverse City’s civic life grade?
A Traverse City is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns on civic life, #55 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 Traverse City.
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.