Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Cranford Township’s library lends 7.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Cranford Public Library serves Cranford Township’s 22,625 residents. Last year it lent 213K books, movies and e-books and logged 75K visits.
What stands out about Cranford Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cranford Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cranford Township is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #98 of 466 in New Jersey. Cranford Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
137 community nonprofits are registered in Cranford Township
5.7 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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.8%
9.8% of Cranford Township’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 Cranford Township’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
213K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 121K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
35,893 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Cranford Public Library serves 22,625 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 71 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 6 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
Cranford Public Library, 224 Walnut Avenue, Cranford.
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 Cranford Township? 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 $2.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cranford Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 8,079 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cranford Township ranks 2nd of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westfield | Westfield Memorial Library fine-free | 9.5 | 62 | B+ |
| Cranford Township | Cranford Public Library fine-free | 9.4 | 58 | A− |
| Clark Township | Clark Public Library | 6.5 | 61 | A− |
| Springfield Township | Springfield Free Pub. Lib. | 6.1 | 56 | B+ |
| Kenilworth | Kenilworth Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 44 | B+ |
| Garwood | Garwood Free Public Library | 2.9 | 51 | B+ |
| Roselle Park | Roselle Park Veteran's Mem. Lib. fine-free | 2.2 | — | C− |
| Linden | Linden Free Public Library | 1.2 | 57 | D |
| Roselle | Roselle Free Public Library | 0.6 | 48 | D− |
| Winfield Township | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Cranford 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 Cranford Township
Does Cranford Township have a public library?
Yes. Cranford Public Library, 224 Walnut Avenue, serves Cranford Township’s 22,625 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cranford 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 Cranford Township’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 9.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Cranford Township’s civic life grade?
A− Cranford Township is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #98 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 Cranford Township.
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.