Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Allentown’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Allentown Public Library serves 139,466 people in and around Allentown. Last year it lent 205K books, movies and e-books and logged 162K visits.
What Allentown’s library is like
Allentown Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Allentown Public Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $21 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Allentown Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Pennsylvania pays a big share
30% of the budget comes from the state, and 64% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Allentown Public Library offered 607 programs last year, 4.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 9. Kids & programs ↓
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; Allentown Public Library serves 139,466 people in and around Allentown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Allentown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Allentown is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns, #987 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #320. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Allentown’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Allentown Public Library spends $21 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$69K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
388 community nonprofits are registered in Allentown
3.1 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 (131 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 17 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.2%
3.2% of Allentown’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Pennsylvania 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 Allentown’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Allentown Public Library serves 139,466 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 64 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Allentown Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
205K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
43,157 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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
Allentown Public Library, 1210 Hamilton St., Allentown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Allentown Public Library branch.
New in Allentown? 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 $1.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Allentown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.3M 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 51,137 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehall Township | Whitehall Township Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 58 | D |
| Allentown | Allentown Public Library | — | 61 | D |
| South Whitehall Township | Parkland Community Library fine-free | — | 62 | D |
| Bethlehem | Bethlehem Area Public Library | — | 55 | C+ |
| Emmaus | Emmaus Public Library fine-free | — | 52 | B |
| Salisbury Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Fullerton | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Dorneyville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Cetronia | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hanover Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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. Allentown Public Library serves 139,466 people in and around Allentown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Allentown.
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 Allentown
Does Allentown have a public library?
Yes. Allentown Public Library, 1210 Hamilton St., serves 139,466 people in and around Allentown (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Allentown Public 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 Allentown’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 1.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Allentown’s civic life grade?
D Allentown is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns on civic life, #987 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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 Allentown.
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.