Photo: JonRidinger · CC BY-SA 4.0Kent’s library runs 37 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Kent Free Library serves 33,725 people in and around Kent. Last year it lent 554K books, movies and e-books and logged 149K visits.
Kent’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
37,619 cards for 33,725 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Ohio pays a big share
57% of the budget comes from the state, and 28% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 5.6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. It’s 34% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Kent Free Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Kent Free Library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Kent Free Library serves 33,725 people in and around Kent, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Kent’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Kent is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns, #193 of 914 in Ohio. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Kent’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
167 community nonprofits are registered in Kent
6.2 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 (30 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.
8.8%
8.8% of Kent’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 Kent’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
554K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
187,266 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Kent Free Library serves 33,725 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 155 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kent Free Library system. The library’s own count.
About 18 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
Kent Free Library, 312 W. Main St., Kent.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kent Free Library branch.
New in Kent? 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 $2.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kent cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3M 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 37,619 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | Kent Free Library | — | 69 | A− |
| Brimfield Township | Brimfield Library fine-free | — | 48 | C |
| Stow | Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library fine-free | — | 62 | B |
| Tallmadge | Tallmadge Branch Library fine-free | — | 53 | B− |
| Franklin 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Kent Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Kent Free Library serves 33,725 people in and around Kent, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kent.
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 Kent
Does Kent have a public library?
Yes. Kent Free Library, 312 W. Main St., serves 33,725 people in and around Kent (the survey’s count) and is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kent 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 Kent’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 16.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Kent’s civic life grade?
A− Kent is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns on civic life, #193 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 Kent.
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.