Delaware, by the numbers

Who lives in Delaware

The state contains 1 metro areas, from Dover, DE (187,604 people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.

Owner-occupied homes carry a median value of $352,000, 6 percent above the national figure; the national comparison point is $332,700. The median household in Delaware earns $84,954 a year, 5 percent above the national figure (the US median is $80,734).

Three quick reads on the people of Delaware. Of 514,286 people in the labor force, 5.1% are unemployed, about the same as the US share. Age first: the median is 41.6, 2.7 years above the national median. A four-year degree or more: 35.8%, about the same as the US share. Homeownership stands at 73%, 8 points above the US share.

How does that compare with its largest metro? Income in Delaware is 14 percent higher than the Dover metro figure, the median home value is 11 percent higher than the Dover metro figure, and business density is 10 percent denser than the Dover metro figure; the full numbers are on the Dover, DE page.

Who is already competing here

By the Census Bureau's count Delaware supports 29,706 employer establishments. Density runs 29.1 businesses for every 1,000 residents, 16 percent above the national figure. The home-services slice is 1,310 establishments, 4.4% of the base, about the same as the US share.

Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.

Crowded categories in Delaware: child day care services and road and paving contractors. Child day care services lead at 349 establishments, 1.2 times the US share. By contrast general freight trucking, dentists, concrete contractors and specialty trade contractors are comparatively scarce in Delaware. General freight trucking are the clearest gap with 207 establishments, about half of the share they hold across the US. Neither crowded nor thin: plumbing and HVAC contractors, electrical contractors and landscaping services.

On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 193.9 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and personal care services. Three categories dominate by count: restaurants at 1,980, physicians' offices at 624 and personal care services at 569. Sector view: consumer services (restaurants, salons, child care, grocery) index at about the same as the national share, medical and dental practices at about 73% of.

How to advertise in Delaware

Advertisers in child day care services and road and paving contractors should assume high competition on Google Ads and put equal weight on the free real estate: an accurate Business Profile, steady new reviews, and pages that match the local searches word for word. The thin categories, general freight trucking, dentists and concrete contractors, are the cheapest place to build a name: fewer bidders, cheaper clicks, and searchers with fewer options. High homeownership (73%) means a large pool of people who pay for their own repairs, replacements and yard work, which favors the home-services trades in this market. An older-than-average market (median age 2.7 years above the national median) responds to search results, review counts and a phone number that is answered; it is less swayed by feed advertising.