Photo: Ted Kerwin · CC BY 2.0Sea Girt’s library runs 111 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Sea Girt Library serves Sea Girt’s 1,866 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,386 visits.
What Sea Girt’s library is like
A small-town library
Sea Girt Library serves 1,866 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 26 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Most programs are for young children
73% of the 207 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.3 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Programs draw a crowd
4,875 people came to the library’s 207 programs last year: 2.6 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Sea Girt invests in its library
Sea Girt Library spends $117 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Sea Girt’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sea Girt is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Sea Girt’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Sea Girt
11.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.8%
7.8% of Sea Girt’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 Sea Girt’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 Sea Girt last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sea Girt Library serves 1,866 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
4,877 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Sea Girt Public Library, Railroad Station at the Plaza, Sea Girt.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sea Girt? 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 $1.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sea Girt cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $218K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $246K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $218K 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 1,316 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Lake | Spring Lake Public Library | 10.7 | 40 | A− |
| Sea Girt | Sea Girt Public Library fine-free | 7.1 | 26 | A− |
| Manasquan | Manasquan Public Library | — | — | A− |
| Wall Township | Wall Public Library | — | 58 | A− |
| Spring Lake Heights | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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 Sea Girt
Does Sea Girt have a public library?
Yes. Sea Girt Library, Railroad Station at the Plaza, serves Sea Girt’s 1,866 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sea Girt 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 Sea Girt’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sea Girt’s civic life grade?
A− Sea Girt is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Sea Girt.
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.