Photo: Skarwowski · CC BY-SA 3.0Hillside Township’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Hillside Free Public Library serves Hillside Township’s 22,456 residents. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What Hillside Township’s library is like
Hillside Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Hillside Free Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Hillside Free Public Library offered 164 programs last year, 7.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 10% of the people Hillside Free Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 85% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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 Hillside Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hillside Township is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns, #436 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Hillside Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$124K) 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 →
61 community nonprofits are registered in Hillside Township
2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 15 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.9%
2.9% of Hillside 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 Hillside Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Hillside Free Public Library serves 22,456 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 75K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
4,653 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Hillside Township last year.
Find it
Hillside Free Public Library, John F. Kennedy Plaza, Hillside.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hillside Township? 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 Hillside Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $687K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $319K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $687K budget.
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 2,276 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hillside Township ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Township | Union Free Public Library fine-free | 2.3 | 57 | D |
| Elizabeth | Elizabeth Free Public Library fine-free | 1.0 | 53 | D |
| Hillside Township | Hillside Free Public Library | 1.0 | 51 | D− |
| Newark | Newark Public Library fine-free | 0.4 | 58 | D− |
| Kean 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 Hillside Township
Does Hillside Township have a public library?
Yes. Hillside Free Public Library, John F. Kennedy Plaza, serves Hillside Township’s 22,456 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Hillside Township’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Hillside Township’s civic life grade?
D− Hillside Township is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns on civic life, #436 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 Hillside 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.