Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Northampton’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Northampton Area Public Library serves 43,991 people in and around Northampton. Last year it lent 98K books, movies and e-books and logged 30K visits.
The short version on Northampton’s library
Northampton Area Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Northampton Area Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Pennsylvania pays a big share
28% of the budget comes from the state, and 60% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Northampton Area Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Northampton Area Public Library serves 43,991 people in and around Northampton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Northampton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Northampton is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #394 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Northampton is graded on two of the three inputs. Northampton’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 →
50 community nonprofits are registered in Northampton
4.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Northampton’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 Northampton’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Northampton Area Public Library serves 43,991 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 39 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Northampton Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
98K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,028 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
Northampton Area Public Library, George Schisler Bldg, 1615 Laubach, Northampton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Northampton Area Public Library branch.
New in Northampton? 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 $3.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Northampton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $486K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $486K 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 11,605 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehall Township | Whitehall Township Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 58 | D |
| Coplay | Coplay Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 49 | D |
| Northampton | Northampton Area Public Library | — | 49 | B− |
| Allen Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| North Catasauqua | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Cementon | 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. Northampton Area Public Library serves 43,991 people in and around Northampton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Northampton.
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 Northampton
Does Northampton have a public library?
Yes. Northampton Area Public Library, George Schisler Bldg, 1615 Laubach, serves 43,991 people in and around Northampton (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Northampton Area Public 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 Northampton’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Northampton’s civic life grade?
B− Northampton is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #394 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 Northampton.
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.