Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockaway’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Rockaway Borough Free Public Library serves Rockaway’s 6,598 residents. Last year it lent 26K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What’s behind Rockaway’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Rockaway is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns, #279 of 466 in New Jersey. Rockaway’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($80K–$134K) 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 →
26 community nonprofits are registered in Rockaway
4.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.7%
7.7% of Rockaway’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 Rockaway’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Rockaway Borough Free Public Library serves 6,598 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
26K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 16K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
7,756 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Rockaway last year.
Find it
Rockaway Free Public Library, 82 E. Main Street, Rockaway Borough.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rockaway? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockaway cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $287K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $420K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $287K 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 2,846 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rockaway ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denville Township | Denville Free Public Library fine-free | 12.3 | 33 | A− |
| Rockaway Township | Rockaway Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.2 | 62 | C |
| Rockaway | Rockaway Free Public Library | 4.0 | 44 | C |
| White Meadow 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. Rockaway 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 Rockaway
Does Rockaway have a public library?
Yes. Rockaway Borough Free Public Library, 82 E. Main Street, serves Rockaway’s 6,598 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rockaway 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 Rockaway’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Rockaway’s civic life grade?
C Rockaway is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns on civic life, #279 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 Rockaway.
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.