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Place dossier plate
SheetDE-ARDENTOWN-DE · Ardentown, DE 269 pop · income 63rd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Ardentown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ardentown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Young · lowest
30,956
Young · lowest
30,956 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #1
Ardentown · this city
81,250
Ardentown · this city
81,250 median HH income
69.6% of the leader · rank #2
Meadow Lakes · near
81,250
Meadow Lakes · near
81,250 median HH income
69.6% of the leader · rank #3
March ARB · near
81,250
March ARB · near
81,250 median HH income
69.6% of the leader · rank #4
Plymouth · near
81,250
Plymouth · near
81,250 median HH income
69.6% of the leader · rank #5
Shady Dale · near
81,250
Shady Dale · near
81,250 median HH income
69.6% of the leader · rank #6
Magnolia · highest
116,667
Magnolia · highest
116,667 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Ardentown on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 269.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Ardentown lands in the 63rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
63rd
percentile, household income
74th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Ardentown, DE
Delaware's Ardentown is a small town, with 269 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Ardentown brings in $81,250 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.3%. Typical homes in Ardentown are valued around $369,200, and the median resident age is 57.3 years. About 63.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 53.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Delaware tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Delaware scores 99.8 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,560 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Delaware's average monthly utility costs around $243 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 91.3 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ardentown's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ardentown, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Ardentown?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 48.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ardentown?
Within Delaware, the closest population matches are Bowers (273 residents, $76,406 income); Magnolia (237 residents, $116,667 income); Little Creek (231 residents, $70,179 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Young, AZ (269 residents); Norris, IL (269 residents); Troy Grove, IL (269 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
How far does income reach against housing in Ardentown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Is Ardentown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.0% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Above median income · poverty 4.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
99.8 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Delaware average
C+
City profile score · Ardentown, DE
64/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A+
63.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
4.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$81,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living D
99.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Ardentown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 94/100 (A+) · 63.9%
Poverty rate: 70/100 (B) · 4.3%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,250
Cost of living: 41/100 (D) · 99.8 index
How does Ardentown compare to other US cities?
Where Ardentown sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value74% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ardentown against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Delaware only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Delaware-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Ardentown near the bottom of Delaware's cities
Among the 79 Delaware cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ardentown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ardentown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#34 of 77
56th percentile in Delaware
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 79
0th percentile in Delaware
Median Home Value
#25 of 77
68th percentile in Delaware
Poverty Rate
#45 of 79
43rd percentile in Delaware
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#11 of 79
86th percentile in Delaware
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Delaware only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
63rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ardentown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$369,20026th percentilemore affordable than 26% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Ardentown's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,068 of 15,516
More affordable than 22% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,231 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.5×, Ardentown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,068 of 15,516 and #9,231 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$81,250Ardentown, DE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ardentown, DE median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Ardentown, DE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)63.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
269
Median Income
$81,250
Median Home Value
$369,200
Median Age
57.3
Poverty Rate
4.3%
Labor force participation
53.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
63.9%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ardentown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
252 residents
2021
253 residents
2022
253 residents
2023
256 residents
2024
258 residents
2025
257 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
48.0%
Carpool
12.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.8%
Work from Home
30.4%
Other
4.8%
Based on 125 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Delaware statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $243
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Delaware at $243 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Delaware statewide averages, not a meter reading for Ardentown. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Delaware's BEA cost-of-living index is 99.8 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Ardentown is $1,560/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Delaware statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 91.3 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Delaware statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Ardentown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ardentown compares to similar-size Delaware cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.