Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Depot · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Wheaton’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wheaton Community Library serves 1,757 people in and around Wheaton. Last year it lent 27K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,939 visits.
What Wheaton’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,769 cards for 1,757 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Wheaton Community Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 32% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; Wheaton Community Library serves 1,757 people in and around Wheaton, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Wheaton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wheaton is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns. Wheaton is graded on two of the three inputs. Wheaton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Wheaton
13.7 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.4%
6.4% of Wheaton’s 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 Wheaton’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
27K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,922 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 under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wheaton Community Library serves 1,757 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wheaton Community Library system. The library’s own count.
74 programs a year
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
Wheaton Community Library, 901 1st Avenue N, Wheaton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Wheaton Community Library branch.
New in Wheaton? 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 $2.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wheaton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $150K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $423K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $150K 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 1,769 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wheaton Community Library serves 1,757 people in and around Wheaton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wheaton.
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 Wheaton
Does Wheaton have a public library?
Yes. Wheaton Community Library, 901 1st Avenue N, serves 1,757 people in and around Wheaton (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wheaton Community 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 Wheaton’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 15.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wheaton’s civic life grade?
B+ Wheaton is ahead of 73% 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 Wheaton.
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.