Checkerboard Inn · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Monroe’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Monroe Free Library serves Monroe’s 21,387 residents. Last year it lent 82K print books and media and logged 35K visits.
What stands out about Monroe’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Monroe’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Monroe is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #605 of 751 in New York. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Monroe’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($84K–$140K) 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 →
66 community nonprofits are registered in Monroe
3.1 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 (132 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Monroe’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Monroe’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Monroe Free Library serves 21,387 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
82K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 56K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Monroe last year.
Find it
Monroe Free Library, 44 Millpond Parkway, Monroe.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Monroe? 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 Monroe cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 9,005 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Monroe ranks 4th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuxedo | Tuxedo Park Library | 10.0 | 60 | — too few inputs |
| Tuxedo | Tuxedo Park Library | 10.0 | 60 | B |
| Chester | Chester Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 54 | C |
| Monroe | Monroe Free Library fine-free | 3.8 | 59 | C− |
| Woodbury | Woodbury Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 51 | — graded with its twin city |
| Woodbury | Woodbury Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 51 | C |
| Blooming Grove | Moffat Library of Washingtonville fine-free | — | 60 | C+ |
| Kiryas Joel | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Palm Tree | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| South Blooming Grove | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Walton 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Monroe Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Monroe
Does Monroe have a public library?
Yes. Monroe Free Library, 44 Millpond Parkway, serves Monroe’s 21,387 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Monroe Free 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 Monroe’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Monroe’s civic life grade?
C− Monroe is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #605 of 751 in New York. 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 Monroe.
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.