Best PlacesRidgewood, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ridgewood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ridgewood ranks 8,493rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ridgewood
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Ridgewood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ridgewood ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Ridgewood ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ridgewood
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ridgewood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,337, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ridgewood's effective rate of 1.91%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ridgewood
Ridgewood runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ridgewood.
Who works in Ridgewood, and how
Work in Ridgewood centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ridgewood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ridgewood.
What the weather is like in Ridgewood, month by month
Ridgewood sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Ridgewood
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ridgewood
Schools across Ridgewood average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mifflin Park El SchA− · 57% proficient
- Jacksonwald El SchB+ · 53% proficient
- Mt Penn El SchC+ · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reiffton SchB+ · 52% proficient
- Intermediate SchC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Governor Mifflin ShsB · 48% proficient
- Exeter Twp ShsC+ · 40% proficient
- Antietam Ms/hsC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ridgewood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ridgewood measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ridgewood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ridgewood
Is Ridgewood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ridgewood ranks 8,493rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ridgewood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,674. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $101,337 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Ridgewood safe?
Ridgewood is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Ridgewood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ridgewood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ridgewood represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ridgewood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ridgewood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ridgewood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ridgewood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ridgewood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ridgewood detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.