The 10 Cities In Delaware With The Best Weather

The cities with the best weather in Delaware for 2026 are Bear, Dover, and Glasgow. Find out where your city or town ranks.

Everyone wants a bit of a blissful breeze or a scoop of sunny sanctuary when looking for a place to live in Delaware.

The more sun, the more you can go outside. The more you go outside, the more you’ll feel at peace. The more you’ll feel at peace, the more you’ll enjoy where you live.

So it makes sense to try and find the places with the best weather in Delaware. We used Saturday Night Science to compare the number of sunny days, total precipitation, and the deviation from the ideal 70-degree weather for 10 places in Delaware over 10,000 people.

Grab your shades and put away your raincoat as we look at the cities with the best weather in Delaware.

1

No. 1 best weather city in Delaware

Bear, DE

19,886 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Bear, DE
Source: Wikipedia User JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. | CC BY-SA 4.0
301.5 sunny days · 64.9 degree average high
Map of Bear within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Bear is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 17,593 at the 2000 census.

2

No. 2 best weather city in Delaware

Dover, DE

37,144 peopleSnackAbility 4/10
4/10
Dover, DE
Source: Wikipedia User Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5
287.8 sunny days · 65.2 degree average high
Map of Dover within Delaware Located in Kent County, Delaware

Dover is the capital and second-largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, DE Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD Combined Statistical Area. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware River coastal plain. It was named by William Penn of Dover in Kent, England. As of 2010, the city had a population of 36,047.

3

No. 3 best weather city in Delaware

Glasgow, DE

14,640 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Glasgow, DE
Source: Wikipedia User Camerafiend | CC BY-SA 4.0
289.1 sunny days · 64.8 degree average high
Map of Glasgow within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Glasgow is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 14,303 at the 2010 census.

4

No. 4 best weather city in Delaware

Brookside, DE

13,743 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
289.1 sunny days · 64.7 degree average high
Map of Brookside within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware
5

No. 5 best weather city in Delaware

Smyrna, DE

10,904 peopleSnackAbility 6/10
6/10
Smyrna, DE
Source: Wikipedia User Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5
286.9 sunny days · 65.4 degree average high
Map of Smyrna within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the Census Bureau, as of 2010, the population of the town is 10,023.

6

No. 6 best weather city in Delaware

Middl, DE

19,744 peopleSnackAbility 6/10
6/10
Middl, DE
Source: Public domain
286.6 sunny days · 65.3 degree average high
Located in New Castle County, Delaware
7

No. 7 best weather city in Delaware

Newark, DE

32,740 peopleSnackAbility 7.5/10
7.5/10
Newark, DE
Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL
290.5 sunny days · 64.4 degree average high
Map of Newark within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Newark is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located 12 miles west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the University of Delaware, which is often regarded as a top ten ranked University in the United States.

8

No. 8 best weather city in Delaware

Wilmington, DE

71,549 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Wilmington, DE
Source: Wikipedia User Tim Kiser (User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5
288.0 sunny days · 63.9 degree average high
Map of Wilmington within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Wilmington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It is at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine River, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Wilmington was named by Proprietor Thomas Penn after his friend Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, who was prime minister in the reign of George II of Great Britain.

9

No. 9 best weather city in Delaware

Hockessin, DE

13,230 peopleSnackAbility 7.5/10
7.5/10
Hockessin, DE
Source: Public domain
290.0 sunny days · 63.5 degree average high
Map of Hockessin within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

Hockessin is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 13,527 at the 2010 census. The place name may be derived from the Lenape word “hksa” meaning “pieces of bark” or from a misspelling of “occasion,” as pronounced by the Quakers who settled the area originally.

10

No. 10 best weather city in Delaware

Pike Creek Valley, DE

10,672 peopleSnackAbility 7.5/10
7.5/10
286.6 sunny days · 64.2 degree average high
Map of Pike Creek Valley within Delaware Located in New Castle County, Delaware

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Delaware’s statewide median.

City Sunny days vs DE
1 Bear 301.5
2 Dover 287.8
3 Glasgow 289.1
4 Brookside 289.1
5 Smyrna 286.9
6 Middl 286.6
7 Newark 290.5
8 Wilmington 288.0
9 Hockessin 290.0
10 Pike Creek Valley 286.6
City Avg. annual high vs DE
1 Bear 64.9
2 Dover 65.2
3 Glasgow 64.8
4 Brookside 64.7
5 Smyrna 65.4
6 Middl 65.3
7 Newark 64.4
8 Wilmington 63.9
9 Hockessin 63.5
10 Pike Creek Valley 64.2
City Avg. annual low vs DE
1 Bear 45.2
2 Dover 46.3
3 Glasgow 45.2
4 Brookside 45.0
5 Smyrna 45.5
6 Middl 45.1
7 Newark 44.4
8 Wilmington 45.6
9 Hockessin 44.0
10 Pike Creek Valley 44.9
City Avg. annual snowfall vs DE
1 Bear 11.8
2 Dover 14.9
3 Glasgow 12.7
4 Brookside 10.6
5 Smyrna 15.2
6 Middl 14.2
7 Newark 9.5
8 Wilmington 12.3
9 Hockessin 12.8
10 Pike Creek Valley 13.5
City Avg. annual precipitation vs DE
1 Bear 44.7
2 Dover 43.3
3 Glasgow 44.2
4 Brookside 45.0
5 Smyrna 44.3
6 Middl 42.6
7 Newark 45.4
8 Wilmington 45.4
9 Hockessin 46.1
10 Pike Creek Valley 45.3
City Population vs DE
1 Bear 19,886
2 Dover 37,144
3 Glasgow 14,640
4 Brookside 13,743
5 Smyrna 10,904
6 Middl 19,744
7 Newark 32,740
8 Wilmington 71,549
9 Hockessin 13,230
10 Pike Creek Valley 10,672

On the map

Where Delaware’s best weather is

Saturday Night Science

How We Determined The Cities In Delaware With The Best Weather

To rank the most fair weather cities in Delaware, we used Saturday Night Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database, to see which cities in the First State get the best weather.

We used the following criteria to find the best weather:

  • Number of sunny days
  • Highest average low
  • Average high deviation from 70 degrees
  • Least amount of rain
  • Least amount of snow

We ranked each city of over 10,000 people in Delaware from best to worst on each criterion. We then averaged each ranking into a weather quality index. The city with the best index, Bear, was anointed the city with the best weather in Delaware.

Before we get too far, here are the annual precipitation rates for major cities: Wilmington (45.4 inches), Dover (43.3 inches), and Newark (45.4 inches).

The cities with the best weather in Delaware are Bear, Dover, Glasgow, Brookside, Smyrna, Middl, Newark, Wilmington, Hockessin, and Pike Creek Valley.

There’s a complete chart at the bottom.

The full plate

Detailed List Of Places With The Best Weather In Delaware

Click any column to sort. Search by city name.

RankCityPopulationSunny DaysAvg. HighPrecipitation (Inches)Snow (Inches)
1Bear19,886301.564.944.711.8
2Dover37,144287.865.243.314.9
3Glasgow14,640289.164.844.212.7
4Brookside13,743289.164.745.010.6
5Smyrna10,904286.965.444.315.2
6Middl19,744286.665.342.614.2
7Newark32,740290.564.445.49.5
8Wilmington71,549288.063.945.412.3
9Hockessin13,230290.063.546.112.8
10Pike Creek Valley10,672286.664.245.313.5

Source: NOAA climate data. 10 Delaware cities with more than 10,000 residents.

Summary

Summary: The Cities With The Best Weather In Delaware For 2026

If you’re looking for the Delaware cities with the most sunny days, the least rain and snow, and highs closest to a perfect 70 degrees, this is an accurate list.

The cities with the best weather in Delaware are Bear, Dover, Glasgow, Brookside, Smyrna, Middl, Newark, Wilmington, Hockessin, and Pike Creek Valley.

Keep reading

More rankings worth a look

Chris Kolmar
About the author

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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