Photo: Walter Sokalski · Public domainRidley Park has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia. Employers in Ridley Park report 937 jobs for 3,748 working residents. Jobs and income earn Ridley Park A; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Ridley Park: the figures worth knowing
Why Ridley Park gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ridley Park is better than 90% of U.S. towns, #162 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 95% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ridley Park could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
How a workday changes Ridley Park
On a workday 3,624 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 813 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Ridley Park on a workday afternoon, 39% 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 2024, primary jobs.
22% of working residents work in Philadelphia
Where Ridley Park clocks in
22% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Ridley Park: what the 937 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ridley Park, 2014 → 2024: 1,095 → 937. 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 Ridley Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Ridley Park takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ridley Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,324 commuters (the 14% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Ridley Park
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.
Ridley Park 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, Ridley Park is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #136 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.6% across Pennsylvania.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,865 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, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 6.4% of Ridley Park households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Ridley Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,800, Ridley Park ranks 429th of 3,122 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Bethel Township PA | 9,774 | $177K | 1.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Aquia Harbour VA | 7,481 | $153K | 4.8% | 3.2% | 1% | A |
| 428 | Glen Ridge NJ | 8,259 | $250K | 1.1% | 7.6% | 3% | A |
| 429 | Ridley Park PA | 7,255 | $94K | 5.4% | 3.1% | 3% | A |
| 430 | Highland Park TX | 8,764 | $250K | 7.0% | 4.5% | 4% | A |
| 431 | Waterford WI | 6,025 | $82K | 3.8% | 2.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,122 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Ridley Park, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Work in the towns next to Ridley Park
The biggest share goes to Ridley Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ridley Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ridley Park | – | A | A | 27 min | $93,594 |
| Ridley Township | 6% | B+ | A+ | 25 min | $92,835 |
| Woodlyn | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Folsom | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Prospect Park | under 2% | B− | A+ | 22 min | $63,077 |
Same-state neighbors only. Woodlyn and Folsom: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ridley Park’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 Ridley Park: questions
What is the median household income in Ridley Park?
$93,594 (±$15,312) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ridley Park?
5.4%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ridley Park?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ridley Park work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Philadelphia (22%, 14 mi), Ridley Township (6%, 1 mi), Upper Merion Township (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Ridley Park walkable?
Ridley Park is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ridley Park without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ridley Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ridley Park
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.