Photo: Ramose350 at English Wikipedia · Public domainPassaic’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Passaic Public Library serves Passaic’s 70,537 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 187K books, movies and e-books and logged 80K visits.
What Passaic’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Passaic Public Library offered 57 programs last year, 0.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Passaic Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Open about 74 hours a week
The main library is open about 74 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Passaic Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 57 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 8 were for children. 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 Passaic’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Passaic has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Library visits come closest to the U.S. middle.
Passaic Public Library spends $24 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$69K) 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 →
88 community nonprofits are registered in Passaic
1.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (126 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
1.3%
1.3% of Passaic’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 Passaic’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Passaic Public Library serves 70,537 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
A year at Passaic Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
187K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 130K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
16,653 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
57 programs a year
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 Passaic last year.
2 places to borrow in Passaic
Passaic Public Library, 195 Gregory Avenue, Passaic.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Passaic? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Passaic
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Passaic cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 9,171 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Passaic ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutherford | Rutherford Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 8.7 | 51 | A− |
| Clifton | Clifton Public Library | 4.7 | 60 | D |
| Passaic | Passaic Public Library | 2.7 | 74 | D− |
| Wallington | John F. Kennedy Memorial Library | 2.4 | 44 | D− |
| Garfield | Garfield Free Public Library | 1.5 | 47 | D− |
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 are a typical-week estimate. Passaic 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 Passaic
Does Passaic have a public library?
Yes. Passaic Public Library, 195 Gregory Avenue, serves Passaic’s 70,537 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 74 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Passaic 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 Passaic’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Passaic’s civic life grade?
D− Passaic has fewer library visits and community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Passaic.
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.