Photo: Lhcollins · CC BY-SA 4.0Avon-by-the-Sea’s library lends 7.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Avon Free Public Library serves Avon-by-the-Sea’s 1,933 residents. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,397 visits.
What Avon-by-the-Sea’s library is like
More library cards than residents
3,824 cards for 1,933 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 ↓
Avon-by-the-Sea out-borrows every town next door
At 11 loans per resident, Avon-by-the-Sea leads the four towns here. The closest is Bradley Beach, at 7.2. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Avon Free Public Library serves 1,933 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 39 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 4.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 36% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Avon Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Avon-by-the-Sea’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon-by-the-Sea is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Avon-by-the-Sea’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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Avon-by-the-Sea
6.9 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.8%
6.8% of Avon-by-the-Sea’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.2% in the typical New Jersey 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 Avon-by-the-Sea’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
7,964 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Avon Free Public Library serves 1,933 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 2 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.
Find it
Avon Free Public Library, Garfield & Fifth Avenues, Avon-By-The-Sea.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Avon-by-the-Sea? 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 $1.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon-by-the-Sea cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $308K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $375K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $308K 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 3,824 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Avon-by-the-Sea borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon-by-the-Sea | Avon Free Public Library | 11.4 | 39 | B+ |
| Bradley Beach | Bradley Beach Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 50 | B− |
| Belmar | Belmar Public Library fine-free | 2.7 | 58 | B |
| Neptune Township | Neptune Township Public Library | 2.1 | 46 | C− |
| Neptune City | None of its own | — | — | B |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Avon Free Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Avon-by-the-Sea
Does Avon-by-the-Sea have a public library?
Yes. Avon Free Public Library, Garfield & Fifth Avenues, serves Avon-by-the-Sea’s 1,933 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Avon Free 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 Avon-by-the-Sea’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 11.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Avon-by-the-Sea’s civic life grade?
B+ Avon-by-the-Sea is ahead of 70% 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 Avon-by-the-Sea.
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.