Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Clifton’s library runs 9 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Clifton Public Library serves Clifton’s 90,296 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 421K books, movies and e-books and logged 157K visits.
What stands out about Clifton’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Clifton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Clifton is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns, #415 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Clifton’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($74K–$123K) 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 →
221 community nonprofits are registered in Clifton
2.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (94 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.
3.7%
3.7% of Clifton’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 Clifton’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.
Clifton Public Library serves 90,296 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 71 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
421K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 196K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
52,677 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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 Clifton last year.
2 places to borrow in Clifton
Clifton Public Library, 292 Piaget Avenue, Clifton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Clifton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Clifton
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.66 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clifton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4M 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 18,622 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Clifton ranks 6th of 10 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montclair Township | Montclair Public Library fine-free | 9.4 | 52 | A |
| Upper Montclair | Bellevue Ave. Branch Lib. fine-free | 9.4 | 30 | — graded as part of its town |
| Rutherford | Rutherford Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 8.7 | 51 | A− |
| Nutley Township | Nutley Free Public Library | 7.1 | 60 | C |
| Little Falls Township | Little Falls Public Library fine-free | 5.5 | 52 | C− |
| Clifton | Clifton Public Library | 4.7 | 60 | D |
| Passaic | Passaic Public Library | 2.7 | 74 | D− |
| Woodland Park | West Paterson Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 2.6 | 52 | C |
| Garfield | Garfield Free Public Library | 1.5 | 47 | D− |
| Paterson | Paterson Free Public Library | 0.3 | 60 | D− |
| Montclair State University | 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 Clifton
Does Clifton have a public library?
Yes. Clifton Public Library, 292 Piaget Avenue, serves Clifton’s 90,296 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clifton 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 Clifton’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Clifton’s civic life grade?
D Clifton is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns on civic life, #415 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 Clifton.
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.