Photo: ajay_suresh · CC BY 2.0Warren’s library lends 3.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Warren Public Library serves Warren’s 139,387 residents from 4 locations. Last year it lent 650K books, movies and e-books and logged 214K visits.
Warren’s library, in brief
Warren out-borrows every town next door
At 4.7 loans per resident, Warren leads the seven towns here. The closest is Sterling Heights, at 3.6. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Warren Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Four places to borrow in Warren
Warren Public Library runs four locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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 Warren’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Warren is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #685 of 697 in Michigan. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #328. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$80K) 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 →
218 community nonprofits are registered in Warren
1.6 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 (119 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.4%
5.4% of Warren’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 Warren’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Warren Public Library serves 139,387 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
650K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 350K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
115,955 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Warren last year.
4 places to borrow in Warren
Civic Center Library, One City Square - Suite 100, Warren.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Warren? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Warren
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Warren cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.1M 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 70,280 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Warren borrows the most per resident of the 7 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warren | Civic Center Library | 4.7 | 50 | D |
| Sterling Heights | Sterling Heights Public Library | 3.6 | 56 | D− |
| Madison Heights | Madison Heights Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 51 | C |
| Roseville | Roseville Public Library fine-free | 2.5 | 53 | D− |
| Hazel Park | Hazel Park Memorial Library fine-free | 2.4 | 42 | C+ |
| Eastpointe | Eastpointe Memorial Library fine-free | 2.2 | 48 | D |
| Detroit | Detroit Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 51 | D |
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 Warren
Does Warren have a public library?
Yes. Warren Public Library, One City Square - Suite 100, serves Warren’s 139,387 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Warren Public 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 Warren’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Warren’s civic life grade?
D Warren is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #685 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 Warren.
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.