Photo: KForce · CC BY-SA 3.0Toms River Township’s library runs 23 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Ocean County Library serves 636,202 people in and around Toms River Township. Last year it lent 4.1M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.5M visits.
What Toms River Township’s library is like
Twice the programs of a typical library its size
Ocean County Library ran 14,768 programs last year, about 284 a week. That’s 23 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9. People show up: 335,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 68 hours a week
The Toms River Township branch is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
A well-funded system
Ocean County Library spends $73 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 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; Ocean County Library serves 636,202 people in and around Toms River Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Toms River Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Toms River Township is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #350 of 466 in New Jersey. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #213. Toms River Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Toms River Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$124K) 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 →
288 community nonprofits are registered in Toms River Township
2.9 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 (99 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 15 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Toms River 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 Toms River Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 64 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Ocean County Library serves 636,202 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 69 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ocean County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
4.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
890,642 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Ocean County Library, 101 Washington Street, Toms River.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ocean County Library branch.
New in Toms River 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 $1.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Toms River Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $47M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $64M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $47M 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 199,653 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toms River Township | Ocean County Library fine-free | — | 68 | C− |
| Manchester Township | Manchester Branch fine-free | — | 64 | D |
| Lavallette | Upper Shores Library fine-free | — | 56 | B |
| Berkeley Township | Berkeley Branch Library fine-free | — | 64 | C− |
| Brick Township | Brick Branch Library fine-free | — | 64 | C− |
| Island Heights | Island Heights Branch Library fine-free | — | 43 | A− |
| Dover Beaches South | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Dover Beaches North | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Pine Lake Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| South Toms River | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Holiday City South | 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.
- System-wide. Ocean County Library serves 636,202 people in and around Toms River Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Toms River Township.
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 Toms River Township
Does Toms River Township have a public library?
Yes. Ocean County Library, 101 Washington Street, serves 636,202 people in and around Toms River Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ocean County 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 Toms River Township’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Toms River Township’s civic life grade?
C− Toms River Township is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #350 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 Toms River 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.