AreaProfile

Milford, Delaware

Area Profile

12,803 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Milford, in Sussex County.

60
Area Score
Bottom 48% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3375th of 3,904 published cities37
GrowthTop 7% of 2,973 published cities78
Housing affordability3335th of 4,223 published cities61
ClimateTop 24% of 4,223 published cities77
Physical resilienceTop 44% of 4,182 published cities64
Access3828th of 4,226 published cities66
Economic stability3192nd of 4,226 published cities45
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places Milford in the bottom 14%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 232 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 34% on the prior year.

Rent takes 25% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 5.0 times that income.

At a glance

Population
12,803
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$59,464
Bottom 38% nationally
Density
1,299/sq mi
9.9 sq mi of land
Median age
41.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Sussex County
Delaware
Metro area
Seaford, DE
Nearest major airport
ACY
59 mi · Atlantic City Intl
Median home value
$296,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.6% over the past year, to 115,985 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,147$59,464Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,452$34,975Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.2%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.0 minBottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher27.6%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment115,985Top 37%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.5%Bottom 43%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.6%Bottom 13%June 2026
Labor force121,674Top 37%June 2026
Labor force participation59.8%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 32%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202459k48k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $59,464 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Sussex County, DE, which contains this city.

18% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 30% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
18.5%
Reading proficiency
29.7%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Milford Senior High SchoolMilford School District1,27119.6
Milford Central AcademyMilford School District1,01318.822%32%
Ross (Lulu M.) Elementary SchoolMilford School District69315.420%32%
Mispillion ElementaryMilford School District56815.412%27%
Banneker (Benjamin) Elementary SchoolMilford School District54017.417%26%

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 $1,260 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,260
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$296,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.99Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate51.3%Bottom 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4565,911Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$163$1,260Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,865$296,900Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.4%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.9%Bottom 33%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
78/ 100
Top 7% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, 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 24% since 2020, reaching 14,079 in 2024.

At 18.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
232
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
18.1
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
+34%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
48.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202414k11k
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
2020202220232024202537045
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−56%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 29°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.9 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GEORGETOWN SUSSEX CO AP, 15.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low29°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing42°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

64 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and heat wave.

HurricaneElevated
Heat waveModerate
Coastal floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, inland flooding, drought, lightning, wildfire, ice storm, tornado, hail, landslide.

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.

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.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source 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. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 59 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Atlantic City IntlACY59 mi10,001 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL67 mi12,000 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI69 mi10,503 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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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
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)
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

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 Milford

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1996323,500$71,10859