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Place dossier plate
SheetDE-MIDDLETOWN-DE · Middletown, DE 24,071 pop · income 85th 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 Middletown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Middletown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Emporia · lowest
52,787
Emporia · lowest
52,787 median HH income
30.6% of the leader · rank #1
Wallace · near
115,216
Wallace · near
115,216 median HH income
66.7% of the leader · rank #2
La Rosita · near
115,221
La Rosita · near
115,221 median HH income
66.7% of the leader · rank #3
Middletown · this city
115,252
Middletown · this city
115,252 median HH income
66.7% of the leader · rank #4
Ardmore · near
115,273
Ardmore · near
115,273 median HH income
66.7% of the leader · rank #5
Glezen · near
115,278
Glezen · near
115,278 median HH income
66.8% of the leader · rank #6
Hockessin · highest
172,695
Hockessin · highest
172,695 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Middletown on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 24,071.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Middletown - the verdict
Middletown ranks in the 85th percentile for household income and the 41st percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
85th
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
41st
percentile, safety
📝 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: Middletown, DE
Middletown is a small city in Delaware, home to 24,071 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Middletown brings in $115,252 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.8%. Typical homes in Middletown are valued around $399,500, and the median resident age is 38.4 years. Educational attainment runs 45.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 107 residential building permits were authorized in Middletown (Construction Slowdown), down 67% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Middletown reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1668.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,560 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Delaware's average monthly utility costs around $243 (state average). 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 Middletown'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 comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Middletown, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Middletown?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Delaware, the closest population matches are Bear (22,604 residents, $88,985 income); Newark (30,309 residents, $71,373 income); Glasgow (16,095 residents, $109,803 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bay Point, CA (24,065 residents); Papillion, NE (24,063 residents); Fresno, TX (24,087 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.
Is Middletown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,419 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 107 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Middletown?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Middletown?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Middletown?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 15 public schools within the city match. 45.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
7.8%
Bachelor's degree+
45.5%
Matched public schools
15
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Middletown?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1668.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 27% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1668.4
Violent rate
125.0
Property rate
1543.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Delaware average
C+
City profile score · Middletown, DE
64/100
5 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.
Household income A-
$115,252
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A-
45.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime B-
125 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
7.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Middletown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 84/100 (A-) · $115,252
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.5%
Violent crime: 65/100 (B-) · 125 /100k
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 7.8%
Cost of living: 41/100 (D) · 99.8 index
Where Middletown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Middletown's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Middletown highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Middletown, DE (this city): home $399,500, crime 1,668/100k
Papillion, NE : home $290,900, crime 1,038/100k
Emporia, KS : home $127,500, crime 2,671/100k
Newark, DE : home $357,600, crime 2,308/100k
Smyrna, DE : home $273,400, crime 2,450/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Middletown compare to other US cities?
Middletown measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income85% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety41% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Delaware, Middletown ranks #13 of 31 Delaware cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Middletown 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 Middletown near the bottom of Delaware's cities
Among the 79 Delaware cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Middletown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Middletown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#12 of 77
84th percentile in Delaware
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 79
0th percentile in Delaware
Median Home Value
#20 of 77
74th percentile in Delaware
Poverty Rate
#24 of 79
68th percentile in Delaware
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#19 of 79
76th 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
85th percentile nationally for median household income · 41st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Middletown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Middletown's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Middletown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$399,50023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Middletown's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,839 of 15,516
More affordable than 43% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,458 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.5×, Middletown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,839 of 15,516 and #1,458 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$115,252Middletown, DE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Middletown, 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 Middletown, DE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,071
Median Income
$115,252
Median Home Value
$399,500
Median Age
38.4
Poverty Rate
7.8%
Labor force participation
63.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1668.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
125.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1543.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Middletown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
23,379 residents
2021
24,266 residents
2022
24,715 residents
2023
25,103 residents
2024
25,551 residents
2025
25,798 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
107
housing units authorized
Single-Family
104
detached homes
Multifamily
3
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
323
149
174
$20.1M
2020
355
259
96
$25.7M
2021
173
170
3
$13.3M
2022
95
95
0
$7.0M
2023
92
92
0
$6.9M
2024
107
104
3
$7.5M
Permit volume decreased 67% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.4%
Carpool
4.1%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
17.5%
Other
0.9%
Based on 11,420 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 Middletown. 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 Middletown 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 Middletown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Middletown 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.