Photo: Ike9898 · CC BY-SA 3.0Jenkintown’s library lends 5.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Jenkintown Library serves Jenkintown’s 4,719 residents. Last year it lent 36K books, movies and e-books and logged 19K visits.
Jenkintown’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
43% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 53%. What your card is worth ↓
Jenkintown invests in its library
Jenkintown Library spends $88 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. 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 Jenkintown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Jenkintown is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #93 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Jenkintown’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
32 community nonprofits are registered in Jenkintown
6.8 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.1%
8.1% of Jenkintown’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 Jenkintown’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jenkintown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $417K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $564K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $417K 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 1,508 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Jenkintown Library serves 4,719 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
36K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 34K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
9,157 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Jenkintown last year.
Find it
Jenkintown Library, 460 York Road, Jenkintown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Jenkintown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Jenkintown ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyncote | Glenside Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 52 | — graded as part of its town |
| Cheltenham Township | Elkins Park Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 55 | B+ |
| Jenkintown | Jenkintown Library fine-free | 7.6 | 46 | A− |
| Abington Township | Abington Township Public Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| Glenside | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Jenkintown Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Jenkintown
Does Jenkintown have a public library?
Yes. Jenkintown Library, 460 York Road, serves Jenkintown’s 4,719 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jenkintown 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 Jenkintown’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Jenkintown’s civic life grade?
A− Jenkintown is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on civic life, #93 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 Jenkintown.
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.