Delaware County, PA
County Profile
579,222 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Delaware County, PA.
Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.
Delaware County ranks in the top 5% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.8% and median household income of $89,546.
Residential permitting has slowed: 183 units authorized over the past twelve months, 25% below the prior year.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Delaware County in the top 5% for physical resilience.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 67% of the 1,255 measured US locations.
Employment grew 2.8% over the past year, to 298,459 employed residents.
42% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 93% of measured US locations.
Household income is higher than at least 90% of measured US locations.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$1,375 | $89,546 | Top 10%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$799 | $49,673 | Top 7%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per-capita personal income | $82,051 | Top 8%of 1,206 | 2023 |
| Poverty rate | 10.2% | Bottom 26%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 30.4 min | Top 22%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 41.9% | Top 7%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 298,459 | Top 9%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 2.8% | Top 22%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 2.8% | Top 3%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 310,255 | Top 9%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 65.6% | Top 16%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.7% | Bottom 10%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.8% | Bottom 33%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 158,280 | $29,800 |
| Registered Nurses | 73,790 | $101,180 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 69,080 | $32,220 |
| General and Operations Managers | 68,730 | $121,630 |
| Retail Salespersons | 63,990 | $34,810 |
| Cashiers | 54,100 | $33,050 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Schools
How it’s calculated →31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 13.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Darby SHS | Upper Darby SD | 4,187 | 17.0 | — | — |
| Chester Community CS · charter | Chester Community CS | 3,782 | 20.6 | 3% | 14% |
| Haverford SHS | Haverford Township SD | 1,994 | 16.5 | — | — |
| Ridley HS | Ridley SD | 1,825 | 14.5 | — | — |
| Haverford MS | Haverford Township SD | 1,578 | 13.8 | 49% | 77% |
| Garnet Valley HS | Garnet Valley SD | 1,485 | 12.9 | — | — |
| Beverly Hills MS | Upper Darby SD | 1,475 | 13.5 | 8% | 27% |
| Springfield HS | Springfield SD | 1,434 | 17.5 | — | — |
| Ridley MS | Ridley SD | 1,291 | 13.7 | 17% | 47% |
| Marple Newtown SHS | Marple Newtown SD | 1,266 | 15.1 | — | — |
| Penncrest HS | Rose Tree Media SD | 1,255 | 13.2 | — | — |
| Drexel Hill MS | Upper Darby SD | 1,244 | 12.3 | 12% | 42% |
57.8% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Pennsylvania’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,372 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.71 | Top 26%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 69.6% | Bottom 28%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±174 | 229,715 | Top 4%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$22 | $1,372 | Top 11%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$4,050 | $332,200 | Top 15%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 18.4% | Top 34%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 5.6% | Bottom 8%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 584,882 in 2024.
Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.
Weather & climate
6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 26°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 44.1 inches, including 23.1 inches of snow.
Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index | 64.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation | 44.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 23.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 26°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 88°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 6 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 100 | 2 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index | 43.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 45°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, hurricane and winter weather.
Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, heat wave, lightning, inland flooding, tornado, cold wave, ice storm, coastal flooding, landslide, wildfire, hail, avalanche.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Delaware County records 4.9 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 8.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 21.7 per 100,000 residents in Delaware County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.
Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Delaware County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Delaware County rather than Delaware County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes
- Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Intl | PHL | 9 mi | 12,000 ft |
| Atlantic City Intl | ACY | 54 mi | 10,001 ft |
| Harrisburg Intl | MDT | 75 mi | 10,001 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Income | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 | Annually, each December |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year | Annually, once a calendar year is complete |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.