Photo: Montgomery County Planning Commission · CC BY-SA 2.0Upper Merion Township’s library lends 6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Upper Merion Township Library serves Upper Merion Township’s 33,613 residents. Last year it lent 245K books, movies and e-books and logged 88K visits.
What stands out about Upper Merion Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Upper Merion Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Upper Merion Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #428 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Upper Merion Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
164 community nonprofits are registered in Upper Merion Township
4.7 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 (28 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 13 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of Upper Merion 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 Upper Merion Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 Upper Merion Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Upper Merion Township Library serves 33,613 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 99 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
245K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 125K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
43,409 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Upper Merion Township Library, 175 W Valley Forge Rd, King of Prussia.
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 Upper Merion 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 $1.64 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Upper Merion Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.2M 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 12,330 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Upper Merion Township ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Providence Township | Lower Providence Community Library | 9.5 | 53 | C+ |
| Upper Merion Township | Upper Merion Township Library fine-free | 7.3 | 47 | C+ |
| King of Prussia | Upper Merion Township Library fine-free | 7.3 | 47 | — graded as part of its town |
| Tredyffrin Township | Tredyffrin Public Library | — | 53 | B+ |
| West Norriton Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Schuylkill Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Bridgeport | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Swedeland | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Plymouth Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| West Conshohocken | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Swedesburg | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Upper Merion Township
Does Upper Merion Township have a public library?
Yes. Upper Merion Township Library, 175 W Valley Forge Rd, serves Upper Merion Township’s 33,613 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Upper Merion Township 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 Upper Merion Township’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 7.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Upper Merion Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Upper Merion Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #428 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 Upper Merion 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.