Article Table Of Contents
Townsend, Ocean View, Lewes: These cities aren't just some of the best places to live in Delaware. They are also home to some of the richest people in the First State.
Townsend in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $119,417 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 2.7628865979381443%.
If you're thinking of moving to one of these towns, you'll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Delaware share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey for the 21 places in Delaware with more than 2,000 people.
Here are the 10 richest places in Delaware for 2021:
For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Delaware.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Delaware:
The 10 Richest Cities In Delaware For 2021
1. Townsend
/10
Population: 2,434
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 2)
Median Income: $119,417
Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
Poverty Rate: 2.8%
More on Townsend: Real Estate | Photos
2. Ocean View
/10
Population: 2,272
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 2)
Median Income: $85,417
Unemployment Rate: 2.2%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Ocean View: Real Estate | Photos
3. Lewes
/10
Population: 3,198
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Median Income: $88,984
Unemployment Rate: 1.3%
Poverty Rate: 7.6%
More on Lewes: Real Estate | Photos
4. New Castle
/10
Population: 5,242
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 3)
Median Income: $68,211
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 6.0%
More on New Castle: Real Estate | Photos
5. Selbyville
/10
Population: 2,444
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 1)
Median Income: $61,500
Unemployment Rate: 0.5%
Poverty Rate: 8.3%
More on Selbyville: Real Estate | Photos
6. Camden
/10
Population: 3,484
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 4)
Median Income: $65,568
Unemployment Rate: 2.9%
Poverty Rate: 6.8%
More on Camden: Real Estate | Photos
7. Clayton
/10
Population: 3,282
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 2)
Median Income: $82,500
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
Poverty Rate: 10.3%
More on Clayton: Real Estate | Photos
8. Middl
/10
Population: 21,692
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 3)
Median Income: $90,134
Unemployment Rate: 7.0%
Poverty Rate: 6.3%
More on Middl: Real Estate | Photos
9. Milton
/10
Population: 2,893
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 1)
Median Income: $57,754
Unemployment Rate: 2.5%
Poverty Rate: 11.3%
More on Milton: Real Estate | Photos
10. Smyrna
/10
Population: 11,484
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Median Income: $67,277
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
Poverty Rate: 10.0%
More on Smyrna: Real Estate | Photos
How We Determined The Richest Places In Delaware For 2021
The first thing that comes to most people's minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don't believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the "richest places". So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2015-2019 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 21 places with more than 2,000 people in Delaware, we ranked each place from 1 to 21 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a "Rich Score" with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Townsend, crowned the "Richest City In Delaware For 2021". You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 21 places.
There You Have It - The Wealthiest Places In Delaware For 2021
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Delaware, we weren't sure what we'd encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Delaware.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you're curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Delaware, according to data:
Poorest: Wilmington
2nd Poorest: Dover
3rd Poorest: Seaford
For more Delaware reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Delaware
| Rank | City | RichScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Townsend | 3.0 |
| 2 | Ocean View | 3.0 |
| 3 | Lewes | 3.67 |
| 4 | New Castle | 5.67 |
| 5 | Selbyville | 5.67 |
| 6 | Camden | 6.33 |
| 7 | Clayton | 7.67 |
| 8 | Middl | 8.0 |
| 9 | Milton | 8.67 |
| 10 | Smyrna | 10.0 |
| 11 | Elsmere | 12.0 |
| 12 | Newark | 13.0 |
| 13 | Millsboro | 13.67 |
| 14 | Milford | 13.67 |
| 15 | Harrington | 15.33 |
| 16 | Georg | 15.67 |
| 17 | Laurel | 15.67 |
| 18 | Bridgeville | 16.33 |
| 19 | Seaford | 16.33 |
| 20 | Dover | 17.67 |
| 21 | Wilmington | 20.0 |
“Oh, and the poorest place in Delaware? That would be Wilmington.”
Huh? So how is Wilmington the poorest, and simultaneously the 20th richest? There are only 20 towns in the state???
Never mind, I see it. Twenty towns with min. pop. of 5000.