React is still the backbone of front-end development in 2025, powering over 79 million websites worldwide. However, React alone isn't enough; pairing it with the right libraries can help developers ship faster, improve performance, and simplify state management and UI design. Libraries like Material-UI for UI components, Formik for handling forms, React Router for routing, Redux Toolkit for state management, TanStack Query for data fetching, Framer for animations, Recharts for data visualization, Styled Components for styling, react-i18next for internationalization, and React Testing Library for testing are top choices. When choosing libraries, consider performance optimization, scalability features, accessibility standards, developer experience, and project-specific factors to ensure the best fit for your project's goals. By leveraging these tools together, developers can build apps that are easier to maintain, faster to develop, and more resilient to change.