Photo: Chris Favero from USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Brookfield’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Brookfield Public Library serves Brookfield’s 45,000 residents. Last year it lent 649K books, movies and e-books and logged 219K visits.
The short version on Brookfield’s library
Brookfield uses its library more than almost any town its size
Brookfield Public Library logs 4.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 86% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 53% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Brookfield last year. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
Brookfield Public Library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 188 items go out. The building ↓
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 Brookfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Brookfield is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns, #91 of 358 in Wisconsin. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Brookfield’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
224 community nonprofits are registered in Brookfield
5.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (33 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.9%
8.9% of Brookfield’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Wisconsin 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 Brookfield’s residents live; 2022.
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 Brookfield 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.
Brookfield Public Library serves 45,000 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 188 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
649K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 178K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3 times last year, on average.
113,699 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Brookfield Public Library, 1900 N. Calhoun Rd., Brookfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Brookfield? 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 $2.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brookfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 20,084 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Brookfield ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wauwatosa | Wauwatosa Public Library fine-free | 17.6 | 65 | A |
| Butler | Butler Public Library | 17.5 | 38 | A |
| Elm Grove | Elm Grove Public Library | 17.3 | 56 | A+ |
| Brookfield | Brookfield Public Library | 14.4 | 66 | A− |
| Menomonee Falls | Menomonee Falls Public Library | 11.2 | 64 | B |
| New Berlin | New Berlin Public Library | 10.9 | 66 | B+ |
| West Allis | West Allis Public Library | 6.8 | 63 | B+ |
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 Brookfield
Does Brookfield have a public library?
Yes. Brookfield Public Library, 1900 N. Calhoun Rd., serves Brookfield’s 45,000 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brookfield 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 Brookfield’s library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 14.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Brookfield’s civic life grade?
A− Brookfield is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns on civic life, #91 of 358 in Wisconsin. 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 Brookfield.
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.