Photo: Adam Moss · CC BY-SA 2.0Folcroft’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Folcroft Public Library serves Folcroft’s 6,792 residents. Last year it lent 10K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,900 visits.
What Folcroft’s library is like
Folcroft Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Folcroft Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
86% of the 208 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.4 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 83% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 68% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Folcroft Public Library spends $7 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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.
What’s behind Folcroft’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Folcroft is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #928 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Folcroft’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Folcroft Public Library spends $7 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($46K–$77K) 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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Folcroft
4.3 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 (10 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.
2.9%
2.9% of Folcroft’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 Folcroft’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Folcroft Public Library serves 6,792 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
10K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 22K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
2,345 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Folcroft last year.
Find it
Folcroft Public Library, 1725 Delmar Dr, Folcroft.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Folcroft? 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 $3.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Folcroft cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $49K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $156K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $49K 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 2,300 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Folcroft ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tinicum Township | Tinicum Memorial Public Library | 6.0 | 43 | C |
| Norwood | Norwood Public Library | 4.7 | 41 | C− |
| Folcroft | Folcroft Public Library | 1.5 | 45 | D |
| Sharon Hill | Sharon Hill Public Library | 0.6 | 34 | D |
| Philadelphia | Free Library of Philadelphia fine-free | — | 49 | D |
| Glenolden | Glenolden Library | — | 33 | C |
| Darby Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Folcroft
Does Folcroft have a public library?
Yes. Folcroft Public Library, 1725 Delmar Dr, serves Folcroft’s 6,792 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Folcroft 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 Folcroft’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Folcroft’s civic life grade?
D Folcroft is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #928 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 Folcroft.
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.