Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMonongahela’s library runs 40 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Monongahela Area Library serves 15,636 people in and around Monongahela. Last year it lent 31K books, movies and e-books and logged 42K visits.
Monongahela’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
42% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 19%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Monongahela Area Library spends $14 per resident, less than 91% 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; Monongahela Area Library serves 15,636 people in and around Monongahela, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Monongahela’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Monongahela is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #379 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Monongahela is graded on two of the three inputs. Monongahela’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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Monongahela
4.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.1%
7.1% of Monongahela’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 Monongahela’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.
Monongahela Area Library serves 15,636 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Monongahela Area Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
31K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,704 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
Monongahela Area Library, 813 West Main St., Monongahela.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Monongahela Area Library branch.
New in Monongahela? 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 $2.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Monongahela cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $213K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $503K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $213K 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 2,457 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monongahela | Monongahela Area Library fine-free | — | 51 | B− |
| Carroll Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Forward Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| New Eagle | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Wickerham Manor-Fisher | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Baidland | 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.
- System-wide. Monongahela Area Library serves 15,636 people in and around Monongahela, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Monongahela.
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 Monongahela
Does Monongahela have a public library?
Yes. Monongahela Area Library, 813 West Main St., serves 15,636 people in and around Monongahela (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Monongahela Area 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 Monongahela’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Monongahela’s civic life grade?
B− Monongahela is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #379 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 Monongahela.
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.