Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cost of living is its strong suit: a typical home costs about $95K, 1.4 years of the St. Marys area’s $66K median household income. It is strong on schools as well: its schools outperform 94% of the state's. What counts against it is incomes: the median household income is $53K, and 13% of residents live below the poverty line. Health is weaker too: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind just over four fifths of the country. It also trails on hazard risk (D): FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 82% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. The overall grade comes out at B+, better than 70% of U.S. towns. That places it 458th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 98% of U.S. towns, with 2 places on the National Register.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · schools, state test and graduation results · health, CDC PLACES · FEMA National Risk Index.
Where Ridgway beats most towns.
Ridgway Armory| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Ridgway Area MS | 6–8 | 198 |
| Ridgway Area HS | 9–12 | 224 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Ridgway is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for cost of living (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D for hazard risk (better than 12%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,100 in 1880, a peak of 6,387 in 1960, 4,039 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1895 and 3 maps from 1941 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ridgway, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Ridgway.
Ridgway pairs an A for schools with modest home prices and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Pennsylvania (mostly inland flooding).
That grade comes with an A+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $95K.
Its two schools are below. Public school enrollment in Ridgway: 422 students across 2 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgway Area MSLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 198 | B+ |
| Ridgway Area HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 224 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
In 2 parks and preserves, walkers have 1.6 miles of trail. Ridgway’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Ridgway | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Olson Park | — | 2 |
| 2. O.B. Grant Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 6,740 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ridgway’s, it is less healthy than 59%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
29% of Ridgway adults get no exercise outside work, against 24% in Pennsylvania’s towns and 25% across U.S. towns. Ridgway: 21% of adults smoke cigarettes. In Ridgway, just over two in five adults have obesity, and 16% report frequent physical distress.
| Ridgway | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Ridgway | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10.5% | 7.7% |
| More smokers | 20.8% | 15.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 18.9% | 14.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of Pennsylvania towns, with expected losses of about $710 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 151 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 19 properties have flooded more than once.
Ridgway has had 151 paid flood insurance claims since 1981. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 89% come from inland flooding. One declared disaster, in 2004, has brought federal aid to Ridgway households.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The average commute for its 1,671 working residents takes 19.7 minutes, against 26.3 across Pennsylvania.
The top destinations are Ridgway Township (21%), St. Marys (18%) and Johnsonburg (3%). Roughly one working resident in five has a job in Ridgway itself. In Ridgway, the average trip to work is 20 minutes. Half commute less than 9 miles.
| Ridgway | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $53,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A winter brings about 53 inches of snow, with January nights at 16° and July afternoons at 81°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
In Ridgway, the property crime rate is 11 per 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns Ridgway sits closer to the middle.
| Ridgway | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
None within 15 miles of Ridgway; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Ridgway residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
2 places in Ridgway on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Ridgway.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Ridgway is a borough in and the county seat of Elk County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 4,039
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Ridgway grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #458 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C− for health, B for safety and A for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes, by national standards. Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Ridgway sits nearer the middle.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.
10 notable people were born here, including Katherine Mayo and Mary Elizabeth Lease.
