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Place dossier plate
SheetDE-SEAFORD-DE · Seaford, DE 8,255 pop · income 21st pct · 75 tracts
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 Seaford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Seaford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Georgetown · lowest
47,423
Georgetown · lowest
47,423 median HH income
28.3% of the leader · rank #1
Hartley · near
51,118
Hartley · near
51,118 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #2
Seaford · this city
51,120
Seaford · this city
51,120 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #3
Franklin · near
51,121
Franklin · near
51,121 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #4
Benson · near
51,124
Benson · near
51,124 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #5
Correctionvil… · near
51,125
Correctionvil… · near
51,125 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #6
North Star · highest
167,664
North Star · highest
167,664 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 Seaford 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: 8,255.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Seaford - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Seaford places in the 21st percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
21st
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
3rd
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: Seaford, DE
Seaford is a small town in Delaware, home to 8,255 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Seaford households earn a median of $51,120 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.8%. Seaford's housing stock carries a median value of $223,700, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. Educational attainment runs 17.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Seaford's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 5701.3 in FBI UCR data, above 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,560 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Delaware run around $243, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Seaford'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Seaford, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Seaford?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5701.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 150% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Seaford?
Within Delaware, the closest population matches are North Star (8,178 residents, $167,664 income); Wilmington Manor (8,030 residents, $72,346 income); Georgetown (7,456 residents, $47,423 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Carl Junction, MO (8,257 residents); Orland, CA (8,252 residents); Alondra Park, CA (8,262 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 75 Census tracts to this city.
How far does income reach against housing in Seaford?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.8%, 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Seaford?
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 74.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.7%
Work from home
4.3%
Drive alone
74.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,270 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 17.5% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
7
Bachelor's degree+
17.5%
Poverty estimate
11.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 +1,183 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +14.8% 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.
Period change
+14.8%
2025 estimate
9,165
2020 estimate
7,982
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Delaware average
F
City profile score · Seaford, DE
24/100
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.
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.
Poverty rate F
11.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$51,120
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,134 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Seaford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 41/100 (D) · 99.8 index
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 27/100 (F) · 17.5%
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,120
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,134 /100k
Where Seaford sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Seaford'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 - Seaford highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Seaford, DE (this city): home $223,700, crime 5,701/100k
Carl Junction, MO : home $206,400, crime 912/100k
Orland, CA : home $320,700, crime 1,153/100k
Rhinelander, WI : home $123,300, crime 1,816/100k
Denison, IA : home $137,600, crime 946/100k
Georgetown, DE : home $266,100, crime 5,692/100k
Millsboro, DE : home $297,000, crime 2,778/100k
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 Seaford compare to other US cities?
Seaford measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety3% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Delaware alone, Seaford ranks #29 of 31 Delaware cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Seaford 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 Seaford near the bottom of Delaware's cities
Among the 79 Delaware cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Seaford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Seaford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#73 of 77
5th percentile in Delaware
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 79
0th percentile in Delaware
Median Home Value
#62 of 77
18th percentile in Delaware
Poverty Rate
#15 of 79
81st percentile in Delaware
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#62 of 79
22nd 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
21st percentile nationally for median household income · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Seaford's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Seaford'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 Seaford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$223,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Seaford's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,709 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,005 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Seaford sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,709 of 15,516 and #9,005 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
$51,120Seaford, DE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Seaford, 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 Seaford, DE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,255
Median Income
$51,120
Median Home Value
$223,700
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
11.8%
Labor force participation
52.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5701.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1133.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4567.7
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Seaford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,982 residents
2021
8,248 residents
2022
8,526 residents
2023
8,758 residents
2024
8,981 residents
2025
9,165 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.5%
Carpool
16.3%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
2.9%
Work from Home
4.3%
Other
1.3%
Based on 3,270 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 Seaford. 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 Seaford 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 Seaford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Seaford 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.