Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Margate City’s library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Margate City Public Library serves Margate City’s 5,317 residents. Last year it lent 91K books, movies and e-books and logged 88K visits.
What Margate City’s library is like
More library cards than residents
10,796 cards for 5,317 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Margate City ranks 4th in New Jersey for library use
Out of 234 New Jersey towns with a library of their own, Margate City comes 4th for visits per resident. It’s also #7 for borrowing. How it compares ↓
Margate City uses its library more than almost any town its size
Margate City Public Library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 10 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 92% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 6.6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. It’s 39% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Margate City invests in its library
Margate City Public Library spends $325 per resident a year, about eight times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) 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 Margate City’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Margate City is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns, #67 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Margate City Public Library logged 16.6 visits per resident in FY2024, #50 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare. The survey counts every visit, residents or not, and libraries don’t report how many come from out of town.
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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Margate City
7.3 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.3%
6.3% of Margate City’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 Margate City’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Margate City Public Library serves 5,317 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
91K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 45K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
34,923 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Margate City last year.
Find it
Margate City Public Library, 8100 Atlantic Avenue, Margate.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Margate City? 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 Margate City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 10,796 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Margate City | Margate City Public Library fine-free | 17.0 | 58 | A− |
| Egg Harbor Township | Egg Harbor Township Branch | — | 56 | C |
| Ventnor City | Ventnor Community Library | — | 56 | 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 count everyone. Margate City’s 88,440 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Margate City 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 Margate City
Does Margate City have a public library?
Yes. Margate City Public Library, 8100 Atlantic Avenue, serves Margate City’s 5,317 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Margate City 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 Margate City’s library?
It logged 16.6 visits and lent 17.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Margate City’s civic life grade?
A− Margate City is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns on civic life, #67 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 Margate City.
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.