Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Manheim’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Manheim Community Library serves 21,268 people in and around Manheim. Last year it lent 78K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
What Manheim’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
48% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 28%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 73% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 62% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
75% of the 240 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Manheim Community Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, below 90% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 3.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Manheim Community Library serves 21,268 people in and around Manheim, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Manheim’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Manheim is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #666 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Manheim is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Manheim’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$102K) 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Manheim
3.7 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.8%
5.8% of Manheim’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 Manheim’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Manheim Community Library serves 21,268 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Manheim Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
78K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,489 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, 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
Manheim Community Library, 15 East High St., Manheim.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Manheim Community Library branch.
New in Manheim? 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 $5.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Manheim cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $219K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $219K 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 2,627 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manheim | Manheim Community Library | — | 50 | C |
| Penn Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Rapho Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Manheim Community Library serves 21,268 people in and around Manheim, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Manheim.
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 Manheim
Does Manheim have a public library?
Yes. Manheim Community Library, 15 East High St., serves 21,268 people in and around Manheim (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Manheim 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 Manheim’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Manheim’s civic life grade?
C Manheim is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #666 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 Manheim.
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.