Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY 3.0Sayreville’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Sayreville Free Public Library serves Sayreville’s 45,345 residents. Last year it lent 118K books, movies and e-books and logged 119K visits.
What stands out about Sayreville’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Sayreville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sayreville is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #389 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
96 community nonprofits are registered in Sayreville
2.1 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.8%
4.8% of Sayreville’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 Sayreville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Sayreville Free Public Library serves 45,345 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
118K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 72K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
28,272 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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 Sayreville last year.
Find it
Sayreville Free Public Library, 1050 Washington Road, Parlin.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sayreville? 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 $1.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sayreville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M budget.
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 12,082 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sayreville ranks 7th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Brunswick Township | East Brunswick Public Library | 10.7 | 65 | B+ |
| Edison Township | Edison Twsp. Free Public Lib fine-free | 5.6 | 68 | C− |
| Woodbridge Township | Woodbridge Public Library | 3.6 | 68 | D |
| Old Bridge Township | Old Bridge Public Library | 3.1 | 99 | C− |
| Laurence Harbor | Laurence Harbor Branch | 3.1 | — | — graded as part of its town |
| South Amboy | Dowdell Lib. of So. Amboy | 2.7 | 43 | D |
| Sayreville | Sayreville Free Public Library | 2.6 | 65 | D |
| South River | South River Public Library | 2.0 | 45 | D |
| Perth Amboy | Perth Amboy Free Pub. Lib. | — | — | D− |
| Keasbey | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Madison Park | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Sayreville
Does Sayreville have a public library?
Yes. Sayreville Free Public Library, 1050 Washington Road, serves Sayreville’s 45,345 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Sayreville’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Sayreville’s civic life grade?
D Sayreville is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #389 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 Sayreville.
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.