Photo: Wikijazz · CC BY-SA 3.0Long Branch’s library lends 1.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Long Branch Free Public Library serves Long Branch’s 31,667 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 79K books, movies and e-books and logged 56K visits.
What Long Branch’s library is like
Well funded, but lightly used
Long Branch Free Public Library spends $76 per resident, more than 82% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 70% of them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people Long Branch Free Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Long Branch’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Long Branch is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns, #413 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Long Branch’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($60K–$100K) 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 →
83 community nonprofits are registered in Long Branch
2.6 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 (39 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.8%
3.8% of Long Branch’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 Long Branch’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Long Branch Free Public Library serves 31,667 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
79K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Long Branch’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 76K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
18,693 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
2 places to borrow in Long Branch
Long Branch Public Library, 328 Broadway, Long Branch.
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 Long Branch? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Long Branch
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Long Branch cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.4M 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 5,021 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Branch | Long Branch Public Library fine-free | 2.5 | 50 | D |
| Oceanport | Oceanport Library | — | 25 | A− |
| Monmouth Beach | Monmouth Beach Pub. Lib. | — | — | B |
| West Long Branch | West Long Branch Pub. Lib. | — | 49 | C |
| Deal | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Long Branch
Does Long Branch have a public library?
Yes. Long Branch Free Public Library, 328 Broadway, serves Long Branch’s 31,667 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Long Branch 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 Long Branch’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Long Branch’s civic life grade?
D Long Branch is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns on civic life, #413 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 Long Branch.
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.