Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Wharton’s library runs 88 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Wharton Public Library serves Wharton’s 7,241 residents. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 49K visits.
What Wharton’s library is like
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 85% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 28%. The building also logs about 5 Wi-Fi sessions a day. Program attendance beats 73% of similar libraries. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
66% of the 636 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 114 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Wharton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wharton is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #173 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
34 community nonprofits are registered in Wharton
4.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.0%
5.0% of Wharton’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 Wharton’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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 Wharton last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Wharton Public Library serves 7,241 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
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
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
5,508 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wharton Public Library, 15 S. Main Street, Wharton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wharton? 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 $1.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wharton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $278K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $408K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $278K 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 2,385 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wharton ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockaway Township | Rockaway Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.2 | 62 | C |
| Mount Hope | Rockaway Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.2 | 62 | — graded as part of its town |
| Roxbury Township | Roxbury Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 57 | B |
| Wharton | Wharton Public Library | 3.1 | 41 | B |
| Dover | Dover Free Public Library | 1.2 | 52 | D |
| Mine Hill 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 Wharton
Does Wharton have a public library?
Yes. Wharton Public Library, 15 S. Main Street, serves Wharton’s 7,241 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wharton 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 Wharton’s library?
It logged 6.7 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wharton’s civic life grade?
B Wharton is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #173 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 Wharton.
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.