Photo: Peteblac cem · Public domainSaddle Brook Township’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Saddle Brook Free Public Library serves Saddle Brook Township’s 14,294 residents. Last year it lent 68K books, movies and e-books and logged 25K visits.
What stands out about Saddle Brook Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Saddle Brook Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Saddle Brook Township is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns, #415 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Saddle Brook Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Saddle Brook Township’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 ($97K–$161K) 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 →
32 community nonprofits are registered in Saddle Brook Township
2.2 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.4%
4.4% of Saddle Brook Township’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 Saddle Brook Township’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.
Saddle Brook Free Public Library serves 14,294 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
68K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
15,471 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 Saddle Brook Township last year.
Find it
Saddle Brook Free Pub. Lib., 340 Mayhill Street, Saddle Brook.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Saddle Brook Township? 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 $1.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Saddle Brook Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $936K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $936K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 4,697 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Saddle Brook Township ranks 2nd of 5 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− |
| Saddle Brook Township | Saddle Brook Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 4.8 | 59 | D |
| Rochelle Park Township | Rochelle Park Public Library | 3.0 | 49 | C |
| Lodi | Lodi Memorial Library | 2.7 | 52 | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Saddle Brook 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 Saddle Brook Township
Does Saddle Brook Township have a public library?
Yes. Saddle Brook Free Public Library, 340 Mayhill Street, serves Saddle Brook Township’s 14,294 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Saddle Brook Free Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Saddle Brook Township’s library?
It logged 1.7 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 Saddle Brook Township’s civic life grade?
D Saddle Brook Township is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns on civic life, #415 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 Saddle Brook Township.
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.