Darby, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

10,687 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Darby, in Delaware County.

64out of 100
Area Score
Top 38% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 41% of 3,904 cities measured61
Growth2371st of 2,973 cities measured32
Housing affordability3587th of 4,223 cities measured55
ClimateTop 46% of 4,223 cities measured71
Physical resilienceTop 10% of 4,182 cities measured91
AccessTop 8% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stability3947th of 4,226 cities measured30
The quick read

Rent takes 39% of median household income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Darby in the top 10% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 4 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
10,687
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$39,863
Bottom 10% nationally
Density
12,692/sq mi
0.8 sq mi of land
Median age
34.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Delaware County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Nearest major airport
PHL
4 mi · Philadelphia Intl
Median home value
$117,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 70% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.8% over the past year, to 298,459 employed residents.

Median household income of $39,863 is below 90% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,978$39,863Bottom 10%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,780$21,888Bottom 12%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate30.0%Top 10%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute40.1 minTop 8%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher15.5%Bottom 36%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment298,459Top 22%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.8%Top 16%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.8%Top 2%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force310,255Top 22%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation58.3%Bottom 42%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,730Top 40%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,310Top 41%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.7%Bottom 11%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202451k40k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $39,863 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides158,280$29,800
Registered Nurses73,790$101,180
Fast Food and Counter Workers69,080$32,220
General and Operations Managers68,730$121,630
Retail Salespersons63,990$34,810
Cashiers54,100$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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Delaware County, PA, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,308 takes 39% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
39.4%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,308
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$117,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.96Top 49%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate49.9%Bottom 9%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4364,545Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$161$1,308Top 28%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,225$117,900Bottom 27%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income39.4%Top 1%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.2%Top 42%of 32,0012024 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 →
Development Momentum
32/ 100
Ranks 2371 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 10,749 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202411k11k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420250.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

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.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PHILADELPHIA INTL AP, 4.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index64.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation44.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall23.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

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

91 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, hurricane and winter weather.

Winter weatherModerate
EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate

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 publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says 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.

Homicide
4.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
21.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Darby rather than Darby 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 4 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Philadelphia IntlPHL4 mi12,000 ft
Atlantic City IntlACY48 mi10,001 ft
Newark Liberty IntlEWR78 mi9,999 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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Area Score
64
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Other cities in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia County1,579,70661vs Darby
WilmingtonNew Castle County71,72754vs Darby
CamdenCamden County71,496vs Darby
LevittownBucks County50,926vs Darby
SicklervilleCamden County44,998vs Darby
NorristownMontgomery County35,89365vs Darby
ChesterDelaware County33,61955vs Darby
Drexel HillDelaware County30,451vs Darby
NewarkNew Castle County30,33048vs Darby
King of PrussiaMontgomery County25,857vs Darby
MiddletownNew Castle County24,66166vs Darby
GlassboroGloucester County23,71772vs Darby

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Darby side by side with a similar place.

Darby vs KentDarby vs YeadonDarby vs Bowling GreenDarby vs McKeesport

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, 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.