Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Paterson’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Paterson Free Public Library serves Paterson’s 159,732 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 49K books, movies and e-books and logged 111K visits.
The short version on Paterson’s library
Paterson Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Paterson Free Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Paterson’s library lends 0.3 items per resident. Each of the six neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Fair Lawn at 11. Libraries next door ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Danforth Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984. Today’s library there has 33,000 square feet. The buildings ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 8% of the people Paterson Free Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 41% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Paterson’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Paterson has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #382. Paterson’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Paterson’s 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–$70K) 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 →
218 community nonprofits are registered in Paterson
1.4 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 (191 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 17 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.5%
2.5% of Paterson’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 Paterson’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1984
Paterson Free Public Library, 250 Broadway, Paterson.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Paterson? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Danforth Memorial Library
Danforth Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 1, 1984. It is significant for its education, architecture and social history at the local level.
Danforth Memorial Library, also known as the Paterson Free Public Library, is located at 250 Broadway in the city of Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The library was built in 1905 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 1, 1984, for its significance in architecture, education, and social history.
More about the building →Other libraries in Paterson
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Paterson Free Public Library serves 159,732 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
49K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 152K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
12,709 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 15 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 Paterson last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Paterson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $977K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.3M 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 12,791 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Paterson ranks 7th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair Lawn | Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library fine-free | 11.3 | 63 | B− |
| Hawthorne | Louis Bay 2nd Library & Comm. Ctr. | 6.1 | 61 | C |
| Clifton | Clifton Public Library | 4.7 | 60 | D |
| Totowa | Dwight D. Eisenhower Library fine-free | 2.9 | 46 | C |
| Elmwood Park | Elmwood Park Free Public Library | 2.8 | 58 | D− |
| Woodland Park | West Paterson Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 2.6 | 52 | C |
| Paterson | Paterson Free Public Library | 0.3 | 60 | D− |
| Haledon | Haledon Public Library | — | — | D |
| Prospect Park | None of its own | — | — | 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. Paterson Free 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 Paterson
Does Paterson have a public library?
Yes. Paterson Free Public Library, 250 Broadway, serves Paterson’s 159,732 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Paterson 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 Paterson’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 0.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Paterson’s civic life grade?
D− Paterson 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 Paterson.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.