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Place dossier plate
SheetDE-BETHEL-DE · Bethel, DE 431 pop · income 72nd 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 Bethel
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bethel on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McGregor · lowest
28,750
McGregor · lowest
28,750 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Bethel · this city
91,111
Bethel · this city
91,111 median HH income
75.5% of the leader · rank #2
La Riviera · near
91,111
La Riviera · near
91,111 median HH income
75.5% of the leader · rank #3
Kirtland · near
91,111
Kirtland · near
91,111 median HH income
75.5% of the leader · rank #4
Roy · near
91,112
Roy · near
91,112 median HH income
75.5% of the leader · rank #5
Scott AFB · near
91,115
Scott AFB · near
91,115 median HH income
75.5% of the leader · rank #6
Fenwick Island · highest
120,625
Fenwick Island · highest
120,625 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 Bethel 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: 431.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Bethel places in the 72nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
72nd
percentile, household income
61st
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: Bethel, DE
Bethel is a small town in Delaware, home to 431 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Bethel brings in $91,111 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Bethel are valued around $276,300, and the median resident age is 52.4 years. About 34.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 38.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Delaware tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Delaware at 99.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,560 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Delaware run around $243, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 91.3 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bethel'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 population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bethel, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Bethel 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 +35 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +14.6% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bethel?
Within Delaware, the closest population matches are Slaughter Beach (431 residents, $96,500 income); Houston (456 residents, $100,208 income); Odessa (392 residents, $86,875 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Prattsville, AR (431 residents); Grand View, ID (431 residents); Waveland, IN (431 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 Bethel?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the journey to work look like in Bethel?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
99.8 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Delaware average
B-
City profile score · Bethel, DE
69/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B
$91,111
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B-
34.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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).
Bethel profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 70/100 (B) · $91,111
Bachelor's+ share: 65/100 (B-) · 34.1%
Cost of living: 41/100 (D) · 99.8 index
How does Bethel compare to other US cities?
Where Bethel sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Home value61% 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 Bethel 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 Bethel near the bottom of Delaware's cities
Among the 79 Delaware cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bethel ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bethel only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#27 of 77
65th percentile in Delaware
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 79
0th percentile in Delaware
Median Home Value
#42 of 77
45th percentile in Delaware
Poverty Rate
#71 of 79
0th percentile in Delaware
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#36 of 79
54th 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
72nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bethel's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$276,30039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Bethel's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,877 of 15,516
More affordable than 56% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,787 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Bethel sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,877 of 15,516 and #5,787 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
$91,111Bethel, DE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bethel, 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 Bethel, DE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)38.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
431
Median Income
$91,111
Median Home Value
$276,300
Median Age
52.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
38.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bethel's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
239 residents
2021
247 residents
2022
256 residents
2023
262 residents
2024
269 residents
2025
274 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.0%
Carpool
8.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.6%
Work from Home
7.3%
Based on 137 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 Bethel. 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 Bethel 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 Bethel sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bethel 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.