Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Squirrel 22~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domainBergenfield’s library logs 4.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Bergenfield Free Public Library serves Bergenfield’s 28,321 residents. Last year it lent 209K books, movies and e-books and logged 124K visits.
What stands out about Bergenfield’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bergenfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bergenfield is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #332 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($98K–$163K) 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 →
70 community nonprofits are registered in Bergenfield
2.5 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 (48 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.9%
3.9% of Bergenfield’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 Bergenfield’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 74 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Bergenfield Free Public Library serves 28,321 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
209K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 87K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
30,089 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Bergenfield last year.
Find it
Bergenfield Free Public Library, 50 W. Clinton Avenue, Bergenfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bergenfield? 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 $2.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bergenfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 9,067 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bergenfield ranks 3rd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenafly | Tenafly Free Public Library | 13.0 | 55 | B+ |
| Cresskill | Cresskill Public Library | 8.3 | 54 | C |
| Bergenfield | Bergenfield Free Public Library | 7.4 | 54 | C− |
| Teaneck Township | Teaneck Public Library fine-free | 7.1 | 68 | C+ |
| Dumont | Dixon Homestead Library | 6.3 | 50 | C− |
| New Milford | New Milford Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 48 | C+ |
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 Bergenfield
Does Bergenfield have a public library?
Yes. Bergenfield Free Public Library, 50 W. Clinton Avenue, serves Bergenfield’s 28,321 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bergenfield 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 Bergenfield’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bergenfield’s civic life grade?
C− Bergenfield is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #332 of 466 in New Jersey. 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 Bergenfield.
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.