Photo: Jeff Silverstein / Jeffsilverstein at en.wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in Ridgefield earn more than those in 87% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 5.6% of residents, against 9.9% across Washington. The two grades for Ridgefield are B+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 8% stay in Ridgefield for work; outside it, Vancouver is the main destination (27%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ridgefield: the gist
Jobs in Ridgefield have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Ridgefield went from 1,794 in 2013 to 4,159 in 2023, +132%. The jobs ↓
Ridgefield and Vancouver trade workers both ways
Vancouver is the top workplace for Ridgefield residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Ridgefield come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Ridgefield makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Ridgefield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ridgefield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 17%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Ridgefield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ridgefield is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #124 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Ridgefield’s grade up ($116,389, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ridgefield could be anywhere from B− to A.
Ridgefield makes things: 39% of its jobs are in goods
4,159 jobs are based in Ridgefield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ridgefield, 2013 → 2023: 1,794 → 4,159. 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 Ridgefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Ridgefield goes to work
Where Ridgefield clocks in
27% 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.
Ridgefield by day and by night
On a workday 4,902 residents head out to work, 402 work right here, and 3,757 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 (0.78 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The trip to work from Ridgefield: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ridgefield workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,591 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% 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.
How many miles Ridgefield commutes
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Ridgefield gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ridgefield is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #246 of 285 in Washington. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,866 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.4% of Ridgefield households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ridgefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000, Ridgefield ranks 1,049th of 2,220 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Snoqualmie WA | 13,640 | $214K | 0.8% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Edgewood WA | 13,548 | $116K | 4.6% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,047 | Limestone Township IL | 18,035 | $71K | 7.8% | 3.2% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,048 | Parma NY | 16,051 | $94K | 8.1% | 4.9% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,049 | Ridgefield WA | 16,132 | $116K | 5.6% | 6.9% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,050 | Fall Creek Township IN | 16,225 | $91K | 7.5% | 5.1% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,051 | Van Buren NY | 14,038 | $74K | 8.5% | 3.2% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ridgefield, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
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 Ridgefield: questions
What is the median household income in Ridgefield?
$116,389 (±$14,035) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ridgefield?
5.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ridgefield?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ridgefield work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vancouver (27%, 13 mi), Portland (14%, 19 mi), Seattle (3%, 125 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ridgefield walkable?
Ridgefield is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ridgefield without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ridgefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ridgefield
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.