Photo: Adegroff · CC BY-SA 4.0Grove City’s library logs 2.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Grove City Community Library serves 14,800 people in and around Grove City. Last year it lent 56K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
What Grove City’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
59% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 19%. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
70% of the 369 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.7 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Grove City Community Library spends $14 per resident, less than 90% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 60% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 56% 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; Grove City Community Library serves 14,800 people in and around Grove City, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Grove City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Grove City is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #388 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Grove City is graded on two of the three inputs. Grove City’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 Grove City
5.1 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 (7 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.
6.0%
6.0% of Grove City’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 Grove City’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Grove City Community Library serves 14,800 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Grove City Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
56K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,118 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Grove City Community Library, 125 West Main St., Grove City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Grove City Community Library branch.
New in Grove City? 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 $4.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grove City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $208K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $880K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $208K 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 3,187 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grove City | Grove City Community Library | — | 37 | B− |
| Pine Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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. Grove City Community Library serves 14,800 people in and around Grove City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Grove City.
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 Grove City
Does Grove City have a public library?
Yes. Grove City Community Library, 125 West Main St., serves 14,800 people in and around Grove City (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grove City Community 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 Grove City’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Grove City’s civic life grade?
B− Grove City is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #388 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 Grove City.
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.