Paulison-Christie House · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Ridgefield Park’s library logs 3.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Ridgefield Park Public Library serves Ridgefield Park’s 13,224 residents. Last year it lent 63K books, movies and e-books and logged 50K visits.
What Ridgefield Park’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Ridgefield Park Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 286 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.1 a week for ages 0–5. 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 Ridgefield Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ridgefield Park is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #321 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($76K–$126K) 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 →
39 community nonprofits are registered in Ridgefield Park
3.0 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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.4%
5.4% of Ridgefield Park’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 Ridgefield Park’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ridgefield Park Public Library serves 13,224 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
63K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,016 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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 Ridgefield Park last year.
Find it
Ridgefield Park Pub. Lib., 107 Cedar Street, Ridgefield Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ridgefield Park? 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 $1.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ridgefield Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $976K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $999K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $976K 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 5,826 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Ridgefield Park ranks 4th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leonia | Leonia Public Library | 8.1 | 51 | B− |
| Bogota | Bogota Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 53 | C+ |
| Teaneck Township | Teaneck Public Library fine-free | 7.1 | 68 | C+ |
| Ridgefield Park | Ridgefield Park Pub. Lib. | 4.8 | 54 | C |
| Ridgefield | Ridgefield Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 4.4 | — | D |
| Palisades Park | Palisades Park Free Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 53 | D |
| Hackensack | Johnson Free Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 64 | C− |
| Little Ferry | Little Ferry Free Public Library | 2.2 | 49 | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Ridgefield Park
Does Ridgefield Park have a public library?
Yes. Ridgefield Park Public Library, 107 Cedar Street, serves Ridgefield Park’s 13,224 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ridgefield Park 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 Ridgefield Park’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ridgefield Park’s civic life grade?
C Ridgefield Park is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #321 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 Ridgefield Park.
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.