Cliffside Park’s library runs 27 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Cliffside Park Free Public Library serves Cliffside Park’s 25,693 residents. Last year it lent 180K books, movies and e-books and logged 32K visits.
What Cliffside Park’s library is like
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 73% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 84%. People come in, pick up their books and go. How it compares ↓
Cliffside Park out-borrows every town next door
At 7 loans per resident, Cliffside Park leads the four towns here. The closest is Edgewater, at 5.9. Libraries next door ↓
Most programs are for young children
75% of the 687 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 4.7 a week for ages 0–5. 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.
What’s behind Cliffside Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cliffside Park is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns, #445 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Cliffside Park’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($70K–$117K) 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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Cliffside Park
1.6 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.3%
3.3% of Cliffside Park’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 Cliffside Park’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Cliffside Park Free Public Library serves 25,693 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
180K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,509 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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 Cliffside Park last year.
Find it
Cliffside Park Free Library, 505 Palisade Avenue, Cliffside Park.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cliffside Park? 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 $2.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cliffside Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 8,987 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cliffside Park 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffside Park | Cliffside Park Free Library fine-free | 7.0 | 61 | D− |
| Edgewater | Edgewater Free Public Library fine-free | 5.9 | 45 | C− |
| Ridgefield | Ridgefield Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 4.4 | — | D |
| Fairview | Fairview Free Public Library fine-free | 1.2 | 54 | D− |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Cliffside Park 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 Cliffside Park
Does Cliffside Park have a public library?
Yes. Cliffside Park Free Public Library, 505 Palisade Avenue, serves Cliffside Park’s 25,693 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cliffside Park Free Public 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 Cliffside Park’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 7.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cliffside Park’s civic life grade?
D− Cliffside Park is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns on civic life, #445 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 Cliffside Park.
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.