Englehart Melchinger House · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Unemployment in Dover (7.1%) is higher than in 83% of U.S. towns
Dover grades B for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia. At home: 5% of workers have no commute at all (Pennsylvania 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Dover: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dover is better than 57% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Dover’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dover could be anywhere from C to A.
The workday shuffle in and out of Dover
On a workday 908 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 553 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Dover on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in York
Where Dover clocks in
10% 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.
What Dover’s employers do
571 jobs are based in Dover.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dover, 2013 → 2023: 617 → 571. 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 Dover’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Dover, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dover workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,038 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Pennsylvania: 81% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Dover, by distance
About 15% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Dover is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dover is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Dover 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 1,091 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, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 6.2% of Dover households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dover’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dover ranks: 1,738th of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 29 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | West Conshohocken PA | 1,498 | $139K | 5.0% | 1.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,736 | Santa Nella CA | 2,107 | $99K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 4% | B |
| 1,737 | Hartington NE | 1,530 | $81K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 15% | B |
| 1,738 | Dover PA | 1,959 | $75K | 6.0% | 7.1% | 2% | B |
| 1,739 | Dupont PA | 2,589 | $87K | 6.3% | 9.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,740 | Springwater NY | 2,248 | $85K | 8.7% | 1.0% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Dover, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Dover and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dover workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | – | B | A+ | 24 min | $75,347 |
| Weigelstown | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Weigelstown: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dover’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 Dover: questions
What is the median household income in Dover?
$75,347 (±$11,308) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dover?
6.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dover?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dover work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are York (10%, 7 mi), West Manchester Township (7%, 5 mi), Dover Township (6%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dover walkable?
Dover is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dover without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dover, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dover
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.