Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Grand Rapids’ library lends 6.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Grand Rapids Area Library serves 21,071 people in and around Grand Rapids. Last year it lent 168K books, movies and e-books and logged 64K visits.
What stands out about Grand Rapids Area Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Grand Rapids’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Grand Rapids is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns, #21 of 271 in Minnesota. Grand Rapids is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Grand Rapids’ count of community nonprofits 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 →
141 community nonprofits are registered in Grand Rapids
12.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.5%
8.5% of Grand Rapids’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical Minnesota 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 Grand Rapids’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Grand Rapids Area Library serves 21,071 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 93 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Grand Rapids Area Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
168K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,132 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Grand Rapids Area Library, 140 NE 2nd Street, Grand Rapids.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Grand Rapids Area Library branch.
New in Grand Rapids? 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 $2.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grand Rapids cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $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 9,388 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coleraine | Coleraine Public Library fine-free | 20.3 | 39 | A |
| Grand Rapids | Grand Rapids Area Library fine-free | — | 35 | A |
| La Prairie | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Harris Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Cohasset | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Arbo Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Grand Rapids Area Library serves 21,071 people in and around Grand Rapids, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Grand Rapids.
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 Grand Rapids
Does Grand Rapids have a public library?
Yes. Grand Rapids Area Library, 140 NE 2nd Street, serves 21,071 people in and around Grand Rapids (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grand Rapids Area 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 Grand Rapids’ library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 8.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Grand Rapids’ civic life grade?
A Grand Rapids is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 of 271 in Minnesota. 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 Grand Rapids.
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.