Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 3.0Pompton Lakes’ library runs 37 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Pompton Lakes Borough Free Public Library serves Pompton Lakes’s 11,127 residents. Last year it lent 47K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What’s behind Pompton Lakes’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pompton Lakes is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #245 of 466 in New Jersey. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($93K–$156K) 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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Pompton Lakes
4.2 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.1%
9.1% of Pompton Lakes’ 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 Pompton Lakes’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Pompton Lakes Borough Free Public Library serves 11,127 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
47K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 48K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
10,653 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Pompton Lakes last year.
Find it
Emanuel Einstein Pub. Lib., 333 Wanaque Avenue, Pompton Lakes.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pompton Lakes? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pompton Lakes cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $581K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $736K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $581K 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 3,002 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pompton Lakes ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pequannock Township | Pequannock Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.9 | 53 | A |
| Pompton Plains | Pequannock Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.9 | 53 | — graded as part of its town |
| Wayne Township | Wayne Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 67 | B+ |
| Riverdale | Riverdale Public Library | 5.4 | 50 | B− |
| Wanaque | Wanaque Free Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 54 | C+ |
| Pompton Lakes | Emanuel Einstein Pub. Lib. | 4.2 | 53 | C+ |
| Bloomingdale | Bloomingdale Free Public Library | 3.6 | 50 | D |
| Pines Lake | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Pompton Lakes Borough 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 Pompton Lakes
Does Pompton Lakes have a public library?
Yes. Pompton Lakes Borough Free Public Library, 333 Wanaque Avenue, serves Pompton Lakes’ 11,127 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pompton Lakes Borough 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 Pompton Lakes’ library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Pompton Lakes’ civic life grade?
C+ Pompton Lakes is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on civic life, #245 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 Pompton Lakes.
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.