Photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Wildwood (7.4%) is higher than in 85% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 43.7 in Jersey City. For jobs and income Wildwood is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+). About one in seven work in Wildwood; the top destination outside it is Middle Township (13%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wildwood apart on work
Wildwood trades workers with the towns around it
Wildwood has about as many jobs (1,942) as working residents (1,790), but they are mostly different people: 1,501 residents leave for work each day while 1,653 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Wildwood are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wildwood are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 31 across New Jersey. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical New Jersey worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Wildwood works one town over
27% of working residents work in a town that borders Wildwood: Middle Township (13%), Lower Township (8%) and North Wildwood (4%). Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Wildwood gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds Wildwood’s grade up ($75,222, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wildwood could be anywhere from D to B.
Who commutes out of Wildwood, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,501 residents head out to work, 289 work right here, and 1,653 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of New Jersey
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wildwood workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,354 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across New Jersey: 75% drive alone, 10% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Commuting out of Wildwood: the destinations
Where Wildwood clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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.
The 1,942 jobs based in Wildwood
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wildwood, 2014 → 2024: 1,802 → 1,942. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wildwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Wildwood commutes
About 31% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Wildwood is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wildwood is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #22 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Wildwood near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,777 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, 61% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 16.8% of Wildwood households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Wildwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,758 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800, Wildwood comes 2,908th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 6 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Hainesport Township NJ | 6,197 | $143K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,906 | Bethel WA | 4,394 | $80K | 16.2% | 11.5% | 1% | C |
| 2,907 | Kingsford MI | 5,096 | $62K | 9.0% | 6.4% | 20% | C |
| 2,908 | Wildwood NJ | 5,068 | $75K | 13.7% | 7.4% | 16% | C |
| 2,909 | Armona CA | 3,890 | $64K | 11.2% | 17.2% | 4% | C |
| 2,910 | Bensley VA | 5,949 | $51K | 22.0% | 6.5% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Wildwood, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Wildwood and its neighbors: 27% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wildwood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood | – | C | A+ | 23 min | $75,222 |
| West Wildwood | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Lower Township | 8% | C+ | A− | 19 min | $84,962 |
| Middle Township | 13% | C+ | A− | 20 min | $83,508 |
| Wildwood Crest | 2% | C | A | 19 min | $69,089 |
| North Wildwood | 4% | B | A+ | 21 min | $90,833 |
Same-state neighbors only. West Wildwood: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Middle Township. Darker towns draw more of Wildwood’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 2024, 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 Wildwood: questions
What is the median household income in Wildwood?
$75,222 (±$21,056) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wildwood?
13.7%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wildwood?
23 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wildwood work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Middle Township (13%, 7 mi), Lower Township (8%, 5 mi), Cape May (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Wildwood walkable?
Wildwood is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.8 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wildwood without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 61% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wildwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wildwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.