Photo: Alexisrael · CC BY-SA 3.0Suffern’s library runs 51 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Suffern Free Library serves 30,869 people in and around Suffern. Last year it lent 236K books, movies and e-books and logged 131K visits.
Suffern’s library, in brief
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Suffern Free Library ran 1,573 programs last year, about 30 a week. That’s 51 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 23,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Suffern Free Library spends $84 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) 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; Suffern Free Library serves 30,869 people in and around Suffern, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Suffern’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Suffern is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #322 of 751 in New York. Suffern is graded on two of the three inputs. Suffern’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
61 community nonprofits are registered in Suffern
5.4 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 (46 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Suffern’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 Suffern’s residents live; 2022.
About 13 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 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Suffern Free Library serves 30,869 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 73 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Suffern Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
236K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
52,149 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Suffern Free Library, 210 Lafayette Ave., Suffern.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Suffern Free Library branch.
New in Suffern? 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 $1.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Suffern cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 11,588 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffern | Suffern Free Library | — | 62 | B |
| Montebello | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Hillburn | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Airmont | 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.
- System-wide. Suffern Free Library serves 30,869 people in and around Suffern, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Suffern.
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 Suffern
Does Suffern have a public library?
Yes. Suffern Free Library, 210 Lafayette Ave., serves 30,869 people in and around Suffern (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Suffern Free 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 Suffern’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Suffern’s civic life grade?
B Suffern is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #322 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 Suffern.
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.