Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Trenton’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Trenton Free Public Library serves Trenton’s 90,871 residents. Last year it lent 29K books, movies and e-books and logged 92K visits.
What Trenton’s library is like
Trenton Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Trenton Free Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Trenton Free Public Library holds 75,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Trenton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Trenton is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #390 of 466 in New Jersey. Trenton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$66K) 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 →
379 community nonprofits are registered in Trenton
4.2 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 (141 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 30 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.2%
2.2% of Trenton’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 Trenton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Trenton Free Public Library serves 90,871 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
29K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 75K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
7,945 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Trenton last year.
Find it
Trenton Free Public Library, 120 Academy Street, Trenton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Trenton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Trenton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $522K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.5M 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 35,689 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Trenton ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morrisville | Morrisville Free Library Association | 1.8 | 45 | C |
| Hamilton Township | Hamilton Twsp. Free Public Library fine-free | 1.8 | 60 | D |
| Trenton | Trenton Free Public Library | 0.3 | 60 | D |
| Ewing Township | Ewing Branch Library | — | 42 | C |
| Lower Makefield Township | Yardley Makefield Branch Library | — | 61 | C+ |
| Lawrence Township | Mercer County Library | — | 42 | B− |
| Falls Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
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 Trenton
Does Trenton have a public library?
Yes. Trenton Free Public Library, 120 Academy Street, serves Trenton’s 90,871 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Trenton 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 Trenton’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 0.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Trenton’s civic life grade?
D Trenton is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #390 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 Trenton.
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.