Hoffecker-Lockwood House · Photo: Cortlandt Van Dyke Hubbard, Photographer · Public domainMost of Cheswold commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
For jobs and income Cheswold is better than 53% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+). Employers in Cheswold report 278 jobs for 722 working residents. Hardly any work in Cheswold itself; outside it, Dover draws the most (25%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Cheswold in brief
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Cheswold
The poverty rate holds Cheswold’s grade up (7.2%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (7.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cheswold could be anywhere from C to A−.
Commuting from Cheswold: about 31 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cheswold workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 793 commuters (the 18% who work from home are left out). Across Delaware: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Cheswold on a workday afternoon
On a workday 719 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 275 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Cheswold on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Cheswold’s residents
Where Cheswold clocks in
25% of workers
7% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Cheswold: what the 278 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cheswold, 2013 → 2023: 225 → 278. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cheswold’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Cheswold goes to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Cheswold walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.9% across Delaware, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 973 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.2% of Cheswold households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Cheswold’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cheswold ranks: 2,057th of 4,797 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Townsend DE | 2,985 | $153K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 800 | Dover Base Housing DE | 2,962 | $82K | 2.2% | 12.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,351 | Riverview DE | 2,596 | $93K | 8.2% | 3.2% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,055 | Mekinock Township ND | 2,175 | $74K | 3.5% | 2.9% | 9% | B− |
| 2,056 | Drumore Township PA | 2,635 | $83K | 8.7% | 4.0% | 4% | B− |
| 2,057 | Cheswold DE | 2,653 | $87K | 7.2% | 7.2% | <1% | B− |
| 2,058 | Rising Sun MD | 2,761 | $86K | 13.0% | 4.4% | 4% | B− |
| 2,059 | Clinton MI | 2,481 | $83K | 5.2% | 6.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cheswold, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cheswold: questions
What is the median household income in Cheswold?
$86,875 (±$26,988) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cheswold?
7.2%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cheswold?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cheswold work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dover (25%, 5 mi), Smyrna (7%, 5 mi), Wilmington (5%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cheswold walkable?
Cheswold is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cheswold without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cheswold, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cheswold
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.