Middletown, Delaware

Area Profile

24,661 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Middletown, in New Castle County.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 30% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2368th of 3,904 published cities51
GrowthTop 36% of 2,973 published cities58
Housing affordabilityTop 25% of 4,223 published cities93
ClimateTop 47% of 4,223 published cities71
Physical resilienceTop 47% of 4,182 published cities61
Access3263rd of 4,226 published cities80
Economic stabilityTop 20% of 4,226 published cities74
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.4% and median household income $112,831, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.6 times that income.

A typical July reaches 87°F and a typical January falls to 26°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
24,661
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$112,831
Top 13% nationally
Density
1,827/sq mi
13.5 sq mi of land
Median age
38.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
New Castle County
Delaware
Metro area
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Nearest major airport
PHL
39 mi · Philadelphia Intl
Median home value
$409,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 48% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.3% over the past year, to 11,865 employed residents.

44% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 87% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$15,459$112,831Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$9,116$52,839Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.4%Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.5 minTop 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher44.0%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,865Bottom 6%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.5%Bottom 26%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.3%Bottom 14%June 2026
Labor force12,410Bottom 6%June 2026
Labor force participation69.4%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,730Top 40%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,310Top 41%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 44%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.4%Top 48%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2023/012023/072024/012024/072025/012025/072026/012026/064.92.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.4% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024115k94k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $112,831 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides158,280$29,800
Registered Nurses73,790$101,180
Fast Food and Counter Workers69,080$32,220
General and Operations Managers68,730$121,630
Retail Salespersons63,990$34,810
Cashiers54,100$33,050

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
40.0%
2019-20 school year
Reading proficiency
51.6%
2019-20 school year
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
MOT Charter School · charterMOT Charter School1,40717.458%60%
Appoquinimink High SchoolAppoquinimink School District1,35715.2
Middletown High SchoolAppoquinimink School District1,23115.4
St. Georges Technical High SchoolNew Castle County Vocational-Technical School District1,19815.0
Waters (Alfred G.) Middle SchoolAppoquinimink School District93517.042%62%
Meredith (Everett) Middle SchoolAppoquinimink School District86714.022%47%
Cedar Lane Elementary SchoolAppoquinimink School District63415.847%58%
Bunker Hill Elementary SchoolAppoquinimink School District56614.933%43%
Silver Lake Elementary SchoolAppoquinimink School District55213.830%37%
Brick Mill Elementary SchoolAppoquinimink School District52414.234%40%
Lorewood Grove Elementary SchoolAppoquinimink School District49215.444%51%
Redding (Louis L.) Middle SchoolAppoquinimink School District45114.527%47%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Delaware’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,583 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,583
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$409,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.63Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.8%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5659,136Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$184$1,583Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$27,315$409,600Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.8%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate1.3%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
58/ 100
Top 36% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 10% since 2020, reaching 25,686 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
56
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.3
Top 50% nationally
Year over year
+100%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202426k23k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202220232024202535531
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−91%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.3 inches, including 20.2 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and about 4 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WILMINGTON NEW CASTLE CO AP, 17.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation45.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall20.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10042024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
4
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

61 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

Winter weatherModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneModerate
Strong windModerate
DroughtModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, cold wave, ice storm, tornado, lightning, wildfire, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

New Castle County records 5.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 29.2 per 100,000 residents in New Castle County.

Homicide
5.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
29.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for New Castle County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Middletown rather than Middletown itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 39 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Philadelphia IntlPHL39 mi12,000 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI54 mi10,503 ft
Atlantic City IntlACY61 mi10,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
66
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Other cities in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia County1,579,70661vs Middletown
WilmingtonNew Castle County71,72754vs Middletown
CamdenCamden County71,496vs Middletown
LevittownBucks County50,926vs Middletown
SicklervilleCamden County44,998vs Middletown
NorristownMontgomery County35,89365vs Middletown
ChesterDelaware County33,61955vs Middletown
Drexel HillDelaware County30,451vs Middletown
NewarkNew Castle County30,33048vs Middletown
King of PrussiaMontgomery County25,857vs Middletown
GlassboroGloucester County23,71772vs Middletown
PottstownMontgomery County23,47665vs Middletown

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Middletown

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1970953,234$132,95669