Photo: Daniellek0512 · CC BY-SA 3.0Mahwah Township’s library logs 8.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Mahwah Free Public Library serves Mahwah Township’s 25,487 residents. Last year it lent 311K books, movies and e-books and logged 221K visits.
Mahwah Township’s library, in brief
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Mahwah Free Public Library ran 1,481 programs last year, about 28 a week. That’s 58 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 44,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Mahwah Township uses its library more than almost any town its size
Mahwah Free Public Library logs 8.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 9.3 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 88% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in New Jersey for kids’ borrowing
Mahwah Township ranks #14 of 215 New Jersey towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Mahwah Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Four of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Mahwah Township invests in its library
Mahwah Free Public Library spends $118 per resident a year, about three times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Mahwah Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mahwah Township is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #112 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; Mahwah Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
93 community nonprofits are registered in Mahwah Township
3.7 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.1%
8.1% of Mahwah 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 Mahwah Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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 Mahwah Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mahwah Free Public Library serves 25,487 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 96 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
311K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.2 times last year, on average.
74,260 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mahwah Free Public Library, 100 Ridge Road, Mahwah.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mahwah 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mahwah Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 13,574 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mahwah Township ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyckoff Township | Wyckoff Free Public Library | 14.5 | 66 | A |
| Allendale | Lee Memorial Library | 13.4 | 54 | A |
| Upper Saddle River | Upper Saddle River Public Library fine-free | 12.6 | 59 | A+ |
| Mahwah Township | Mahwah Free Public Library | 12.2 | 62 | B+ |
| Ramsey | Ramsey Free Public Library fine-free | 11.7 | 60 | A |
| Franklin Lakes | Franklin Lakes Free Public Library fine-free | 10.8 | 63 | A− |
| Oakland | Oakland Public Library fine-free | 8.2 | 57 | B+ |
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 Mahwah Township
Does Mahwah Township have a public library?
Yes. Mahwah Free Public Library, 100 Ridge Road, serves Mahwah Township’s 25,487 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mahwah Free Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mahwah Township’s library?
It logged 8.7 visits and lent 12.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mahwah Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Mahwah Township is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #112 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 Mahwah 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.