Photo: KForce at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Edison Township’s library runs 19 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Edison Township Free Public Library serves Edison Township’s 107,588 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 605K books, movies and e-books and logged 303K visits.
What Edison Township’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 69% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 82% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Open about 68 hours a week
The main library is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 61 items go out. The buildings ↓
Three places to borrow in Edison Township
Edison Township Free Public Library runs three locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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 Edison Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Edison Township is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #358 of 466 in New Jersey. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #230. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Edison Township’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 ($94K–$156K) 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 →
307 community nonprofits are registered in Edison Township
2.8 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 (63 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 32 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.6%
4.6% of Edison 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 Edison Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 20 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 Edison Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Edison Township Free Public Library serves 107,588 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 61 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
605K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 176K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.9 times last year, on average.
93,270 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
3 places to borrow in Edison Township
Edison Twsp. Free Public Lib, 340 Plainfield Avenue, Edison.
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 Edison Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Edison Township
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Edison Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.9M 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 24,082 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Edison Township ranks 4th of 10 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Brunswick Township | East Brunswick Public Library | 10.7 | 65 | B+ |
| Highland Park | Highland Park Public Library fine-free | 6.4 | 58 | C+ |
| South Plainfield | So. Plainfield Free Pub. Lib. | 5.6 | 55 | C |
| Edison Township | Edison Twsp. Free Public Lib fine-free | 5.6 | 68 | C− |
| Woodbridge Township | Woodbridge Public Library | 3.6 | 68 | D |
| Fords | Fords Branch | 3.6 | 52 | — graded as part of its town |
| Iselin | Iselin Branch | 3.6 | 52 | — graded as part of its town |
| Piscataway Township | Piscataway Public Library fine-free | 3.6 | 62 | C− |
| Sayreville | Sayreville Free Public Library | 2.6 | 65 | D |
| New Brunswick | New Brunswick Free Pub. Lib. | 0.7 | 58 | D |
| Rutgers University-Livingston Campus | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Edison Township 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 Edison Township
Does Edison Township have a public library?
Yes. Edison Township Free Public Library, 340 Plainfield Avenue, serves Edison Township’s 107,588 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Edison Township 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 Edison Township’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Edison Township’s civic life grade?
C− Edison Township is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #358 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 Edison 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.