Photo: Eric Harrison · CC BY-SA 2.0Cranston’s library lends 5.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Cranston Public Library serves Cranston’s 82,934 residents from 6 locations. Last year it lent 563K books, movies and e-books and logged 235K visits.
Cranston’s library, in brief
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Cranston Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Rhode Island pays a big share
20% of the budget comes from the state, and 79% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Six places to borrow in Cranston
Cranston Public Library runs six locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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.
What’s behind Cranston’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cranston is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #32 of 38 in Rhode Island. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$113K) 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 →
240 community nonprofits are registered in Cranston
2.9 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 (42 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.7%
4.7% of Cranston’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.4% in the typical Rhode Island 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 Cranston’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Cranston Public Library serves 82,934 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
563K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 220K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
125,684 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 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 Cranston last year.
6 places to borrow in Cranston
Cranston Public Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cranston? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Cranston
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cranston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4M 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 34,050 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cranston ranks 2nd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scituate | North Scituate Public Library fine-free | 10.0 | 49 | B− |
| Cranston | Cranston Public Library | 6.8 | 61 | C− |
| Warwick | Warwick Public Library fine-free | 6.6 | 57 | C+ |
| East Providence | East Providence Public Library fine-free | 6.1 | 63 | C |
| Coventry | Coventry Public Library | 5.1 | 55 | C− |
| West Warwick | West Warwick Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 52 | D |
| Providence | Providence Public Library | 2.6 | 50 | C+ |
| Johnston | Marian J. Mohr Memorial Library fine-free | 2.4 | 57 | 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.
- 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 Cranston
Does Cranston have a public library?
Yes. Cranston Public Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, serves Cranston’s 82,934 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cranston 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 Cranston’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cranston’s civic life grade?
C− Cranston is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #32 of 38 in Rhode Island. 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 Cranston.
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.