Photo: ajay_suresh · CC BY 4.0Scarsdale’s library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Scarsdale Public Library serves Scarsdale’s 18,253 residents. Last year it lent 307K print books and media and logged 242K visits.
What Scarsdale’s library is like
Scarsdale ranks 3rd in New York for library use
Out of 241 New York towns with a library of their own, Scarsdale comes 3rd for visits per resident. It’s also #7 for borrowing and #9 for kids’ borrowing. How it compares ↓
Scarsdale uses its library more than almost any town its size
Scarsdale Public Library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 17 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 99% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 63% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 32 items per child in Scarsdale last year. Kids & programs ↓
Programs draw a crowd
30,000 people came to the library’s 898 programs last year: 1.6 per resident, against a typical 0.4, more than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Scarsdale invests in its library
Scarsdale Public Library spends $250 per resident a year, about six times the typical $43 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.
What’s behind Scarsdale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Scarsdale is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #173 of 751 in New York. 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 →
79 community nonprofits are registered in Scarsdale
4.4 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 (11 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.
6.8%
6.8% of Scarsdale’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 Scarsdale’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 96 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Scarsdale Public Library serves 18,253 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
307K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 91K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.4 times last year, on average.
About 7 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 Scarsdale last year.
Find it
Scarsdale Public Library, Post & Olmsted Roads, Scarsdale.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Scarsdale? 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 $1.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Scarsdale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $4.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.6M 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 10,204 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Scarsdale borrows the most per resident of the 6 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarsdale | Scarsdale Public Library fine-free | 16.8 | 62 | B+ |
| Mamaroneck | Larchmont Public Library | 16.4 | 56 | B− |
| White Plains | White Plains Public Library fine-free | 8.4 | 60 | B |
| Eastchester | Eastchester Public Library fine-free | 8.2 | 55 | C+ |
| Harrison | Harrison Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 55 | — graded with its twin city |
| Harrison | Harrison Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 55 | B− |
| New Rochelle | New Rochelle Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | C+ |
| Greenburgh | Greenburgh Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | B+ |
| Greenville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hartsdale | 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. Scarsdale Public 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 Scarsdale
Does Scarsdale have a public library?
Yes. Scarsdale Public Library, Post & Olmsted Roads, serves Scarsdale’s 18,253 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scarsdale Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Scarsdale’s library?
It logged 13.3 visits and lent 16.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Scarsdale’s civic life grade?
B+ Scarsdale is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #173 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 Scarsdale.
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.