Photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 4.0Ocean City’s library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Ocean City Free Public Library serves Ocean City’s 11,229 residents. Last year it lent 351K books, movies and e-books and logged 191K visits.
The short version on Ocean City’s library
More library cards than residents
22,773 cards for 11,229 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Ocean City borrows more library books per person than any town in New Jersey
Out of 234 New Jersey towns with a library of their own, Ocean City comes first for items borrowed per resident. It’s also #1 for kids’ borrowing and #3 for library use. How it compares ↓
Ocean City uses its library more than almost any town its size
Ocean City Free Public Library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 22 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 99% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 9.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. It’s 31% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 32% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 44 items per child in Ocean City last year. Kids & programs ↓
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 Ocean City’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ocean City is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #85 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Ocean City Free Public Library logged 17.0 visits per resident in FY2024, #47 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 →
67 community nonprofits are registered in Ocean City
6.0 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Ocean 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 Ocean City’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 84 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 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ocean City Free Public Library serves 11,229 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
351K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 120K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
109,525 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 Ocean City last year.
Find it
Ocean City Free Pub. Lib., 1735 Simpson Avenue, Ocean City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ocean City? 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 $1.61 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ocean City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.7M 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 22,773 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean City | Ocean City Free Pub. Lib. | 31.3 | 74 | A− |
| Longport | Longport Public Library | 25.0 | 52 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Upper Township | Upper Cape Branch fine-free | — | 48 | A |
| Egg Harbor Township | Egg Harbor Township Branch | — | 56 | C |
| Somers Point | Somers Point Branch Library | — | 56 | C+ |
| Strathmere | 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.
- Visits count everyone. Ocean City’s 190,598 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
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 Ocean City
Does Ocean City have a public library?
Yes. Ocean City Free Public Library, 1735 Simpson Avenue, serves Ocean City’s 11,229 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 74 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ocean City 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 Ocean City’s library?
It logged 17.0 visits and lent 31.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ocean City’s civic life grade?
A− Ocean City is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #85 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 Ocean 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.