Photo: User: Kubigula · CC BY-SA 3.0Suffolk’s library runs 7.4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Suffolk Public Library System serves Suffolk’s 96,130 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 375K books, movies and e-books and logged 135K visits.
What Suffolk’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 10% of the people Suffolk Public Library System serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Suffolk Public Library System logs about 1,157 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 22 public computers. That’s 4.4 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Three places to borrow in Suffolk
Suffolk Public Library System runs three 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 Suffolk’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Suffolk is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #77 of 88 in Virginia. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #225. Suffolk’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($69K–$116K) 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 →
405 community nonprofits are registered in Suffolk
4.1 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 (87 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 19 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.1%
5.1% of Suffolk’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical Virginia 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 Suffolk’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Suffolk Public Library System serves 96,130 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 52 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
375K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 155K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
64,498 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Suffolk last year.
3 places to borrow in Suffolk
Morgan Memorial Library, 443 W. Washington Street, Suffolk.
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 Suffolk? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Suffolk
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Suffolk cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.3M 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 9,332 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Suffolk ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | Portsmouth Main Library fine-free | 12.3 | 46 | C− |
| Chesapeake | Chesapeake Central Library fine-free | 5.4 | 60 | C− |
| Suffolk | Morgan Memorial Library fine-free | 3.9 | 54 | C− |
| Newport News | Main Street Library fine-free | 2.8 | 56 | D |
| Carrsville | 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 Suffolk
Does Suffolk have a public library?
Yes. Suffolk Public Library System, 443 W. Washington Street, serves Suffolk’s 96,130 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Suffolk Public Library System 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 Suffolk’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Suffolk’s civic life grade?
C− Suffolk is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #77 of 88 in Virginia. 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 Suffolk.
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.