Photo: Aesopposea · CC BY-SA 3.0Greenfield’s library is a branch of Highland County District Library, which lends more per resident than 59% of systems its size
Greenfield’s library is the Greenfield Branch, a branch of Highland County District Library, which serves 42,139 people and lent 258K items last year.
What stands out about Greenfield Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Greenfield’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greenfield is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #497 of 914 in Ohio. Greenfield is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Greenfield’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Greenfield
3.1 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.1%
9.1% of Greenfield’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Ohio 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 Greenfield’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Highland County District Library serves 42,139 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Highland County District Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
258K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
60,963 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 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.
Find it
Greenfield Branch, 1125 Jefferson Street, Greenfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Highland County District Library branch.
New in Greenfield? 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 $2.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Greenfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 17,975 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenfield | Greenfield Branch | — | 48 | B− |
| Madison Township | Greenfield Branch | — | 48 | B− |
| Buckskin Township | South Salem Branch Library fine-free | — | 12 | B+ |
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. Greenfield Branch is one branch of Highland County District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 42,139 people it serves.
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 Greenfield
Does Greenfield have a public library?
Yes: Greenfield Branch, 1125 Jefferson Street, is a branch of Highland County District Library, which serves 42,139 people. The branch is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Highland County District 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 Greenfield’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 6.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Greenfield’s civic life grade?
B− Greenfield is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #497 of 914 in Ohio. 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 Greenfield.
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.