Photo: Jared Kofsky/Placenj.com · CC BY-SA 4.0Carteret’s library lends 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Carteret Free Public Library serves Carteret’s 25,326 residents. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 47K visits.
What Carteret’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Carteret Free Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people Carteret Free Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Carteret Free Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
People visit, but borrow less than most
Carteret Free Public Library lends 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, fewer than 90% of similar-size libraries, though visits are closer to typical. What people borrow ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Carteret Free Public Library holds 65,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Carteret’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Carteret is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #423 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($73K–$121K) 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 →
51 community nonprofits are registered in Carteret
2.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.5%
3.5% of Carteret’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 Carteret’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Carteret Free Public Library serves 25,326 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 65K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
4,663 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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
Carteret Public Library, 100 Cooke Avenue, Carteret.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Carteret? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carteret cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $521K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $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 3,962 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Carteret ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbridge Township | Woodbridge Public Library | 3.6 | 68 | D |
| Linden | Linden Free Public Library | 1.2 | 57 | D |
| Carteret | Carteret Public Library | 1.2 | 64 | D |
| New York | Brooklyn Public Library fine-free | — | 64 | C− |
| Avenel | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Port Reading | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Carteret
Does Carteret have a public library?
Yes. Carteret Free Public Library, 100 Cooke Avenue, serves Carteret’s 25,326 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carteret 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 Carteret’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Carteret’s civic life grade?
D Carteret is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #423 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 Carteret.
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.