Photo: Ntsimp · Public domainOrem’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Orem Public Library serves Orem’s 95,519 residents. Last year it lent 1.5M books, movies and e-books and logged 351K visits.
Orem’s library, in brief
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 22 items per child in Orem last year. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 5.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. It’s 33% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Orem is a town of borrowers
Orem Public Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 3.5 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
Orem Public Library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 424 items go out. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
66% of the 728 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 7.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 Orem’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Orem is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #41 of 106 in Utah. Library visits hold the grade up; Orem’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($63K–$104K) 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 →
191 community nonprofits are registered in Orem
2.0 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Orem’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Utah 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 Orem’s residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 278K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.5 times last year, on average.
483,675 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Orem Public Library serves 95,519 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 424 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 9 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 Orem last year.
Find it
Orem Public Library, 58 North State Street, Orem.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Orem? 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 $5.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orem cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $22M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.8M 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 46,603 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.
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Orem Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Orem
Does Orem have a public library?
Yes. Orem Public Library, 58 North State Street, serves Orem’s 95,519 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Orem 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 Orem’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 15.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Orem’s civic life grade?
C Orem is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #41 of 106 in Utah. 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 Orem.
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.