Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0Lower Macungie Township’s library lends 5.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Lower Macungie Library serves Lower Macungie Township’s 35,022 residents. Last year it lent 226K books, movies and e-books and logged 83K visits.
What stands out about Lower Macungie Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lower Macungie Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lower Macungie Township is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns, #792 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($94K–$157K) 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 →
92 community nonprofits are registered in Lower Macungie Township
2.8 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 (25 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.
6.2%
6.2% of Lower Macungie Township’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 Lower Macungie Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lower Macungie Library serves 35,022 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 76 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
226K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 65K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
44,503 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, 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 Lower Macungie Township last year.
Find it
Lower Macungie Library, 3450 Brookside Road, Macungie.
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 Lower Macungie Township? 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 $3.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lower Macungie Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $870K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $870K 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 10,249 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Macungie Township | Lower Macungie Library fine-free | 6.5 | 57 | C− |
| Emmaus | Emmaus Public Library fine-free | — | 52 | B |
| South Whitehall Township | Parkland Community Library fine-free | — | 62 | D |
| Macungie | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Upper Milford Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Upper Macungie Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Wescosville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Trexlertown | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Breinigsville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hereford Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Salisbury 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.
- 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 Lower Macungie Township
Does Lower Macungie Township have a public library?
Yes. Lower Macungie Library, 3450 Brookside Road, serves Lower Macungie Township’s 35,022 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lower Macungie 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 Lower Macungie Township’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lower Macungie Township’s civic life grade?
C− Lower Macungie Township is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns on civic life, #792 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 Lower Macungie Township.
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.