Photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Elsmere commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Elsmere has 1,385 jobs, against 2,834 working residents. For jobs and income Elsmere is better than 41% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). 23.1% of residents live below the poverty line, where Delaware as a whole has 10.4%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Elsmere in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Elsmere than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Elsmere fell from 2,764 in 2013 to 1,385 in 2023, −50%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Most Elsmere residents work close to home
73% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. Only 5% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Elsmere makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Elsmere are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Elsmere residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 13%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Elsmere’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Elsmere’s grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elsmere could be anywhere from C− to B+.
In Elsmere, 37% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elsmere, 2013 → 2023: 2,764 → 1,385. 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 Elsmere’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Elsmere 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.
How a workday changes Elsmere
On a workday 2,774 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 1,325 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in Elsmere on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
13% of working residents work in Wilmington
Where Elsmere clocks in
13% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Elsmere
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elsmere workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,569 commuters (the 10% 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.
Elsmere is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.9% across Delaware.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,852 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 81% 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). 4.6% of Elsmere households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Elsmere’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,432 U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,400, Elsmere comes 2,204th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Pike Creek DE | 7,129 | $140K | 1.3% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 278 | North Star DE | 7,834 | $151K | 3.5% | 3.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | New Castle DE | 5,726 | $89K | 4.7% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,202 | Riverside Township NJ | 8,231 | $76K | 18.9% | 7.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,203 | Broadalbin NY | 5,077 | $75K | 12.9% | 3.8% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,204 | Elsmere DE | 6,196 | $68K | 23.1% | 4.8% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,205 | Decorah IA | 7,417 | $64K | 8.1% | 4.0% | 46% | C+ |
| 2,206 | Chehalis WA | 7,764 | $74K | 15.0% | 4.0% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Elsmere, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
Next door is work for 13% of Elsmere
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elsmere workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elsmere | – | C+ | A | 24 min | $67,944 |
| Wilmington | 13% | C | A+ | 24 min | $58,671 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wilmington. Darker towns draw more of Elsmere’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Elsmere: questions
What is the median household income in Elsmere?
$67,944 (±$19,241) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elsmere?
23.1%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elsmere?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elsmere work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilmington (13%, 3 mi), New Castle (5%, 5 mi), Philadelphia (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elsmere walkable?
Elsmere is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elsmere without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elsmere, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elsmere
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.