Photo: KForce at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Hackensack’s library runs 19 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Johnson Free Public Library serves Hackensack’s 46,030 residents. Last year it lent 120K books, movies and e-books and logged 126K visits.
What Hackensack’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Hackensack’s library lends 2.6 items per resident. Each of the eight neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Paramus at 19. Libraries next door ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Johnson Free Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out. The building ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Johnson Free Public Library holds 606,000 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 Hackensack’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hackensack is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #338 of 466 in New Jersey. Hackensack’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Hackensack’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 ($63K–$105K) 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 →
174 community nonprofits are registered in Hackensack
3.8 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 (62 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.2%
3.2% of Hackensack’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 Hackensack’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Johnson Free Public Library serves 46,030 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
120K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 606K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
29,615 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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 Hackensack last year.
Find it
Johnson Free Public Library, 274 Main Street, Hackensack.
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 Hackensack? 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 Hackensack cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 30,521 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hackensack ranks 9th of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paramus | Paramus Public Library fine-free | 19.1 | 68 | A− |
| River Edge | River Edge Free Pub. Lib. | 9.2 | 49 | B+ |
| Hasbrouck Heights | Hasbrouck Heights Free Public Library | 7.7 | — | C+ |
| Bogota | Bogota Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 53 | C+ |
| Teaneck Township | Teaneck Public Library fine-free | 7.1 | 68 | C+ |
| Maywood | Maywood Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 48 | C+ |
| Ridgefield Park | Ridgefield Park Pub. Lib. | 4.8 | 54 | C |
| Lodi | Lodi Memorial Library | 2.7 | 52 | D |
| Hackensack | Johnson Free Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 64 | C− |
| South Hackensack Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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. Johnson 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 Hackensack
Does Hackensack have a public library?
Yes. Johnson Free Public Library, 274 Main Street, serves Hackensack’s 46,030 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Johnson 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 Hackensack’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Hackensack’s civic life grade?
C− Hackensack is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #338 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 Hackensack.
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.