Photo: Daderot · CC BY 3.0North Brunswick Township’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
North Brunswick Free Public Library serves North Brunswick Township’s 43,905 residents. Last year it lent 159K books, movies and e-books and logged 51K visits.
What stands out about North Brunswick Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind North Brunswick Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, North Brunswick Township is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #404 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; North Brunswick Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($91K–$151K) 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 →
140 community nonprofits are registered in North Brunswick Township
3.2 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 (36 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.4%
4.4% of North Brunswick 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 North Brunswick Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
North Brunswick Free Public Library serves 43,905 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
159K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 103K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
45,259 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in North Brunswick Township last year.
Find it
No. Brunswick Free Pub. Lib., 880 Hermann Road, North Brunswick.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in North Brunswick 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 $1.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average North Brunswick Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 11,938 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
North Brunswick Township ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Brunswick Township | East Brunswick Public Library | 10.7 | 65 | B+ |
| South Brunswick Township | So. Brunswick Pub. Lib. | 8.2 | 83 | C+ |
| Milltown | Milltown Public Library fine-free | 4.9 | 45 | B |
| Franklin Township | Franklin Twp. Pub. Lib./Somerset | 4.8 | 61 | D |
| Franklin Park | Franklin Park | 4.8 | 43 | — graded as part of its town |
| North Brunswick Township | No. Brunswick Free Pub. Lib. | 3.6 | 60 | D |
| New Brunswick | New Brunswick Free Pub. Lib. | 0.7 | 58 | D |
| Deans | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Six Mile Run | 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 North Brunswick Township
Does North Brunswick Township have a public library?
Yes. North Brunswick Free Public Library, 880 Hermann Road, serves North Brunswick Township’s 43,905 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is North Brunswick 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 North Brunswick Township’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is North Brunswick Township’s civic life grade?
D North Brunswick Township is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #404 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 North Brunswick 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.