United States Post Office · Photo: KForce · CC BY-SA 3.0Metuchen’s library runs 73 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Metuchen Public Library serves Metuchen’s 15,049 residents. Last year it lent 134K books, movies and e-books and logged 83K visits.
What stands out about Metuchen’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Metuchen’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Metuchen is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns, #16 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
89 community nonprofits are registered in Metuchen
5.9 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 (15 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.
12.7%
12.7% of Metuchen’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 Metuchen’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 Metuchen last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Metuchen Public Library serves 15,049 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 42 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
134K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 66K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
27,623 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Metuchen Public Library, 480 Middlesex Avenue, Metuchen.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Metuchen? 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 $2.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Metuchen cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $997K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $997K 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 5,411 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Metuchen
Does Metuchen have a public library?
Yes. Metuchen Public Library, 480 Middlesex Avenue, serves Metuchen’s 15,049 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Metuchen’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Metuchen’s civic life grade?
A Metuchen is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns on civic life, #16 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 Metuchen.
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.