Census-designated place · Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Wayne, Pennsylvania

Wayne is a census-designated place in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, part of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area. It has 6,635 residents. Wayne, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 81 out of 100 (very high), ranking #3,008 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #199 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on distance to an airport (low), distance to an emergency room (low) and bachelor's degree or higher (high). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), income inequality (Gini index) (high) and child care cost burden (high).

81Very high

Quality-of-life score: #3,008 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #199 of 997 in PA
Population: 6,635 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 3,124.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 4281752

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety55#6,957/15,637
Economy48#8,111/15,631
Housing43#8,552/14,977
Health85#2,357/15,609
Healthcare89#1,662/15,650
Environment44#8,643/15,453
Education94#913/15,649
Infrastructure68#4,994/15,650
Community92#1,196/15,651
Leisure & amenities59#6,378/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Wayne, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Delaware County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Distance to an airport · low8 mi
98/100Pennsylvania 36 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauDelaware County value
Distance to an emergency room · low2.7 mi
97/100Pennsylvania 5.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesDelaware County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · high71.5%
97/100Pennsylvania 35.2%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Poor or fair health · low10.7%
96/100Pennsylvania 17.0%United States 19.9%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
High school diploma or higher · high99.5%
96/100Pennsylvania 92.1%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Natural hazard risk · low3.3
96/100Pennsylvania 22.42025Federal Emergency Management AgencyDelaware County value

Weaknesses

Time spent in the emergency room · high248 min
3/100Pennsylvania 191 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesDelaware County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.512
8/100Pennsylvania 0.474United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Child care cost burden · high39.2%
11/100Pennsylvania 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteDelaware County value
Unemployment rate · high9.1%
12/100Pennsylvania 4.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Home price to income ratio · high4.7×
25/100Pennsylvania 3.3×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Property crime rate · high1,562 /100k
25/100Pennsylvania 1,324 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationDelaware County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Median household incomeImproving
$101,902 (2016-2020) → $150,539 (2020-2024)
+48%4 yearsCensus table B19013US $67,340 → $81,604
Child poverty rateWorsening
3.6% (2016-2020) → 12.9% (2020-2024)
+9.3 pts4 yearsCensus table B17001US 15.7% → 15.5%
Public transit commutersWorsening
12.3% (2016-2020) → 4.4% (2020-2024)
−7.9 pts4 yearsCensus table B08301US 4.6% → 3.2%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
30.6% (2016-2020) → 24.9% (2020-2024)
−5.7 pts4 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.6% → 30.6%
High school diploma or higherImproving
94.4% (2016-2020) → 99.5% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts4 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.5% → 89.6%
Poverty rateWorsening
5.7% (2016-2020) → 9.1% (2020-2024)
+3.4 pts4 yearsCensus table B17001US 11.9% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

There is not enough history to compare Wayne, Pennsylvania over five years.

Cities and towns like Wayne, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Wayne, Pennsylvania in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

No place that looked like Wayne, Pennsylvania five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

6,635 residents (±674)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

6,635 residents (±674)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

White89%5,919
Black2.2%†145
Hispanic or Latino0.9%†60

Education

4,775 residents (±571)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

No high school diploma0.5%†22
High school or GED11%†509
Some college13%†611

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,541 households (±270)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k8.5%†217
$25k–50k12%†317
$50k–75k7.1%†180
$75k–100k5.1%†129
$100k–150k16%†415
$150k–200k11%†280
$200k or more39%1,003

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,541 households (±270)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own66%1,680
Rent34%861

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

815 households (±208)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $7500.0%0
$750–1,0002.1%†17
$1,000–1,50019%†157

Home values

1,680 homes (±272)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $150k3.5%†58
$150k–250k5.0%†84
$250k–400k9.6%†162

Age of homes

2,750 homes (±242)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

2010 or later1.5%†40
2000–20093.2%†89
1980–199917%†455

Size of homes

2,750 homes (±242)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Studio0.0%0
1 bedroom7.5%†206
2 bedrooms27%†741

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,401 workers (±472)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone66%2,241
Carpool1.6%†56
Public transit4.4%†149
Walk4.0%†136
Bike0.0%0
Work from home23%790
Other0.9%†29

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

2,611 workers (±439)

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under 15 min31%†800
15–29 min36%934
30–44 min14%†375

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Delaware County, the county holding most of Wayne's residents.

Delaware County has 13,165 employer establishments, 227 for every 10,000 residents (0.92× the US rate of 248; 0.96× Pennsylvania's), with 237,233 paid employees at an average annual pay of $65,310. The Census Bureau also counts 50,531 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 13,165; 50,531 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 227; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 237,233
Average annual pay: $65,310; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Delaware County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,139	19.7	0.94×About typical	17,460	$69,306	3,697
Specialty trade contractors	944	16.3	1.05×About typical	9,123	$78,117	2,656
Restaurants and other eating places	932	16.1	0.88×About typical	15,951	$21,419	272
Lessors of real estate	470	8.1	0.66×Fewer than typical	2,534	$91,606	5,378
Construction of buildings	463	8	1.06×About typical	2,451	$78,490	1,076
Limited-service restaurants	461	8	0.99×About typical	6,459	$19,053	146
Services to buildings and dwellings	452	7.8	1.16×About typical	6,386	$41,186	2,068
Building equipment contractors	444	7.7	1.27×More than typical	4,322	$88,910	583
Personal care services	400	6.9	1.45×More than typical	2,667	$27,019	1,732
Management, scientific and technical consulting	356	6.1	0.92×About typical	2,293	$98,232	2,359
Full-service restaurants	347	6	0.78×Fewer than typical	7,955	$23,965	88
Automotive repair and maintenance	340	5.9	1.17×About typical	1,745	$51,966	324

Rank places for an industry Open Delaware County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 579,086 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $3.3M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Wayne, Pennsylvania: $501 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $3.3M; −35% vs FY2025
Per resident: $501; US $1,994
Sole-source: 12%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.7%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Defense Logistics Agency$2.4M71%
National Institutes of Health$477.4K14%
Social Security Administration$210.6K6.3%
Food and Drug Administration$122K3.7%
National Institute of Standards and Technology$65.1K2.0%
Department of Veterans Affairs$37.9K1.1%
Federal Bureau of Investigation$21.8K0.7%
Health Resources and Services Administration$10.8K0.3%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

5.2MFY2017
7MFY2018
9.8MFY2019
18.5MFY2020
8.6MFY2021
8.6MFY2022
4MFY2023
4.1M

Top industries (NAICS)

Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers · 4234$2.3M71%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$347.8K10%
Offices of physicians · 6211$210.6K6.3%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$122.5K3.7%
Basic chemical manufacturing · 3251$76.4K2.3%
Other chemical product and preparation manufacturing · 3259

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Wayne, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Wayne, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Delaware County, PA ($2.4B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Wayne is mostly in Delaware County.

See federal money in Delaware County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Wayne, Pennsylvania is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mary Gay ScanlonD-PA-5 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 1.5%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Delaware County81100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD73

Other cities and towns in Delaware County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4281752

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends

What changed in five years

Cities and towns like Wayne, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved