Photo: Lee Paxton · CC BY-SA 4.0Ambridge’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Laughlin Memorial Free Library serves 10,543 people in and around Ambridge. Last year it lent 27K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Ambridge’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
64% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 15%. What your card is worth ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Laughlin Memorial Free Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
71% of the 199 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 44 were for children. 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; Laughlin Memorial Free Library serves 10,543 people in and around Ambridge, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ambridge’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ambridge is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #327 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Ambridge is graded on two of the three inputs. Ambridge’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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Ambridge
5.8 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.9%
5.9% of Ambridge’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 Ambridge’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Laughlin Memorial Free Library serves 10,543 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Laughlin Memorial Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
27K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,389 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
199 programs a year
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
Laughlin Memorial Free Library, 99 Eleventh St., Ambridge.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Laughlin Memorial Free Library branch.
New in Ambridge? 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 $1.96 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ambridge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $222K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $436K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $222K 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 3,726 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambridge | Laughlin Memorial Free Library | — | 44 | B− |
| Aliquippa | B F Jones Memorial Library | — | 52 | C |
| Harmony Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Ambridge Heights | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Leetsdale | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Leet Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| South Heights | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Laughlin Memorial Free Library serves 10,543 people in and around Ambridge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ambridge.
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 Ambridge
Does Ambridge have a public library?
Yes. Laughlin Memorial Free Library, 99 Eleventh St., serves 10,543 people in and around Ambridge (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Laughlin Memorial 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 Ambridge’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ambridge’s civic life grade?
B− Ambridge is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #327 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 Ambridge.
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.