Newark, Delaware

Area Profile

30,330 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Newark, in New Castle County.

48out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 11% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3549th of 3,904 cities measured33
Growth2805th of 2,973 cities measured17
Housing affordability3367th of 4,223 cities measured60
ClimateTop 47% of 4,223 cities measured71
Physical resilienceTop 47% of 4,182 cities measured61
Access2975th of 4,226 cities measured85
Economic stability4109th of 4,226 cities measured24
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 6.3% and the Opportunity signal places Newark in the bottom 9%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1 units authorized over the past twelve months, 50% below the prior year.

Rent takes 26% 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
30,330
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$76,912
Top 37% nationally
Density
3,201/sq mi
9.5 sq mi of land
Median age
22.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
New Castle County
Delaware
Metro area
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Nearest major airport
PHL
31 mi · Philadelphia Intl
Median home value
$382,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 6.3% is lower than 6% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.3% over the past year, to 12,721 employed residents.

58% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 93% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,638$76,912Top 37%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,616$35,264Top 45%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate27.7%Top 12%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.8 minBottom 21%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher58.2%Top 7%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment12,721Bottom 8%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.8%Bottom 12%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.3%Bottom 14%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force13,576Bottom 9%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation52.0%Bottom 26%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,730Top 40%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,310Top 41%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 43%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate6.3%Top 6%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.53.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 6.3% 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
202120222023202477k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $76,912 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.

43% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
42.9%
2019-20 school year
Reading proficiency
51.2%
2019-20 school year
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Newark Charter School · charterNewark Charter School3,10916.467%71%
ASPIRA Delaware · charterLas Americas Aspira Academy1,47117.317%28%
Newark High SchoolChristina School District1,03915.3
Shue-Medill Middle SchoolChristina School District76311.912%27%
Forest Oak Elementary SchoolRed Clay Consolidated School District42913.421%37%
West Park Place Elementary SchoolChristina School District35013.054%61%
Downes (John R.) Elementary SchoolChristina School District34611.232%47%
Wilson (Etta J.) Elementary SchoolChristina School District27112.938%50%
Maclary (R. Elisabeth) Elementary SchoolChristina School District24410.634%35%
Meadowood ProgramRed Clay Consolidated School District11910.8

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 →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,654 takes 26% 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.

Cost of living
102.4

Prices here run about 2% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
25.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,654
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$382,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index102.4Top 50%of 3,6582023
Home price to income4.97Top 16%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate50.7%Bottom 10%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4469,921Top 6%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$89$1,654Top 16%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,984$382,500Top 19%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.8%Top 15%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.4%Top 38%of 32,0012024 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
17/ 100
Ranks 2805 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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 30,506 in 2024.

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

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 6% nationally
Year over year
−50%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202431k30k
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
202020222023202420257.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

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, 8.3 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.

Violent crime
298
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,732
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Newark's police department reported 298 violent offences per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,732.

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.

Offences are reported to the FBI by Newark’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. 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 Newark rather than Newark 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.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 31 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Philadelphia IntlPHL31 mi12,000 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI60 mi10,503 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT64 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
48
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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 Newark
WilmingtonNew Castle County71,72754vs Newark
CamdenCamden County71,496vs Newark
LevittownBucks County50,926vs Newark
SicklervilleCamden County44,998vs Newark
NorristownMontgomery County35,89365vs Newark
ChesterDelaware County33,61955vs Newark
Drexel HillDelaware County30,451vs Newark
King of PrussiaMontgomery County25,857vs Newark
MiddletownNew Castle County24,66166vs Newark
GlassboroGloucester County23,71772vs Newark
PottstownMontgomery County23,47665vs Newark

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.

Compare

Put Newark side by side with a similar place.

Newark vs ForestvilleNewark vs College ParkNewark vs ParkwayNewark vs Gresham

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
safetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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 Newark

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1971149,432$95,40357
197176,036