Photo: Stow photographer · CC BY-SA 3.0Stow’s library runs 51 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library serves 39,905 people in and around Stow. Last year it lent 757K books, movies and e-books and logged 160K visits.
What Stow’s library is like
More library cards than residents
50,501 cards for 39,905 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 ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library ran 2,026 programs last year, about 39 a week. That’s 51 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 52,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 53% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 96% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Ohio pays a big share
38% of the budget comes from the state, and 48% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library serves 39,905 people in and around Stow, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Stow’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Stow is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #476 of 914 in Ohio. Library visits hold the grade up; Stow’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 →
123 community nonprofits are registered in Stow
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (24 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.2%
8.2% of Stow’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 Stow’s residents live; 2022.
About 19 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library serves 39,905 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 219 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
757K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
181,421 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library, 3512 Darrow Rd., Stow.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library branch.
New in Stow? 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 $2.41 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Stow cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.8M 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 50,501 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stow | Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library fine-free | — | 62 | B |
| Cuyahoga Falls | Cuyahoga Falls Library | — | 58 | B |
| Tallmadge | Tallmadge Branch Library fine-free | — | 53 | B− |
| Kent | Kent Free Library | — | 69 | A− |
| Hudson | Hudson Library and Historical Society fine-free | — | 64 | A− |
| Brimfield Township | Brimfield Library fine-free | — | 48 | C |
| Silver Lake | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Munroe Falls | None of its own | — | — | 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. Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library serves 39,905 people in and around Stow, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Stow.
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 Stow
Does Stow have a public library?
Yes. Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library, 3512 Darrow Rd., serves 39,905 people in and around Stow (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Stow-Munroe Falls Public 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 Stow’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 19.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Stow’s civic life grade?
B Stow is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #476 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 Stow.
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.