Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Public schools that outperform most of Pennsylvania.
Ridgway Township’s best subject grades are an A+ for cost of living, an A for schools, and an A− for history; its weakest is a C− for walkability. On cost of living, just 42 of Pennsylvania’s 1,749 towns do better. 68% of the land in Ridgway Township is conserved, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 8.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. State Game Lands Number 44, at 11,789 acres with 9.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Ridgway Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Ridgway Township beats most towns.
Where Ridgway Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Ridgway Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,100 in 1880, a peak of 6,387 in 1960, 4,039 in 2020. The archive holds 6 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 Township, 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 Township.
47 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. For Ridgway Township, the concentration of trails is 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. State Game Lands Number 44 | 9.9 mi | 11,789 |
| 2. Sandy Beach Park | 1.3 mi | 83 |
| 3. State Game Lands Number 25 | — | 1,342 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Ridgway Area SD. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The 2 public schools in Ridgway Township teach 631 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francis S Grandinetti El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 359 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Half commute less than 10 miles. A fifth of Ridgway Township working residents work locally. Since 2013, Ridgway Township has added 229 jobs, to 1,708 in 2023. Its typical journey to work is 21 minutes.
| Ridgway Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 6.5% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The share of adults in Ridgway Township who sleep under 7 hours: 38%. Among adults locally, 39% have obesity and 15% report frequent physical distress.
| Ridgway Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Ridgway Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10% | 7.7% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.1% | 7.4% |
| More smokers | 19.2% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The July high for Ridgway Township comes to 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The risk rating from FEMA in Ridgway Township is 65 of 100. Flood insurance has paid out on 14 claims locally since 1989. FEMA puts 88% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Ridgway Township; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Ridgway Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
67.9% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
2 places in Ridgway Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
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)
5 towns share a border with Ridgway Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgway Township | — | — | A+ | — | A | C |
| St. Marys | #560 | B | A | B | B− | C+ |
| Horton Township | — | — | A+ | — | A | C+ |
| Fox Township | #485 | B+ | A | — | B− | B− |
| Jones Township | — | — | A+ | — | A | C |
| Spring Creek Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Ridgway Township, Horton Township and Jones Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Ridgway Township, Horton Township, Fox Township and Jones Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Spring Creek Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ridgway Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Public schools that outperform most of Pennsylvania.
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+.
