Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 3.0Nanticoke’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Mill Memorial Library serves 20,979 people in and around Nanticoke. Last year it lent 42K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
The short version on Nanticoke’s library
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Mill Memorial Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
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 31%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Mill Memorial Library spends $9 per resident, less than 97% 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; Mill Memorial Library serves 20,979 people in and around Nanticoke, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Nanticoke’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Nanticoke is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #935 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Nanticoke is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Nanticoke’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Mill Memorial Library spends $9 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Nanticoke
2.7 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.1%
5.1% of Nanticoke’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 Nanticoke’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.
Mill Memorial Library serves 20,979 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mill Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
42K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,426 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, 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
Mill Memorial Library, 495 East Main St., Nanticoke.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mill Memorial Library branch.
New in Nanticoke? 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 $3.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Nanticoke cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $193K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $693K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $193K 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 8,404 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanticoke | Mill Memorial Library | — | 44 | D |
| Newport Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Plymouth Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Sheatown | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| West Nanticoke | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Hanover 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.
- System-wide. Mill Memorial Library serves 20,979 people in and around Nanticoke, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Nanticoke.
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 Nanticoke
Does Nanticoke have a public library?
Yes. Mill Memorial Library, 495 East Main St., serves 20,979 people in and around Nanticoke (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mill Memorial 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 Nanticoke’s library?
It logged 1.6 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 Nanticoke’s civic life grade?
D Nanticoke is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #935 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 Nanticoke.
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.