The Safest and Most Dangerous Cities in Delaware

Violent Crime

On Delaware’s Atlantic coast, Dewey Beach stands out as a violent anomaly. It’s not only the state’s most dangerous city, but also among the most violent in America. At more than 5,000 incidents per 100,000 citizens, the frequency of violence is 13 times Delaware’s average and nearly three times the state’s second-ranked city. That astronomical rate is largely due to a tiny population (only around 350 inhabitants) that swells exponentially to more than 30,000 when revelers invade during the summer.

With 71,000 residents, Wilmington is Delaware’s largest city and the state’s third most violent enclave. Its violent crime rate of nearly 1,300 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants is almost quadruple the national average. Wilmington’s location on I-95 at the crossroads of Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York has made it a notorious drug-trafficking hub and summoned the gang warfare commensurate with illicit activity.³ That same interstate, whose construction bisected and partitioned the city, is also blamed for decades of local economic stagnation⁴ — a key contributor to higher crime rates.

On the other side of the safety spectrum is Delaware’s safest town, Ocean View. Featuring only 68 violent crimes per 100,000 people, it sports a reputation as tranquil as its name. Felton and Milton, which sound like brothers but are named for a railroad tycoon and English poet, respectively, are Delaware’s second and third safest cities. Many party towns along Delaware’s shore provoke crime by pouring copious cocktails all summer, but peaceful Milton is busy producing world-famous beer at the Dogfish Head Brewery.

Property Crime

Life is no beach for those hoping to avoid property crime in Delaware, because the three towns with the state’s highest property crime rates all lie along the Delmarva Peninsula’s barrier coastline.

Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach experience particularly high property crime rates, suffering more than 9,000 incidents per 100,000 residents. Dewey Beach posts lower numbers (about 5,300 reports per 100,000), but it has the unenviable distinction of being in the state’s top three for both violent and property crimes. As small resort towns whose numbers swell each summer with affluent, frolicking visitors who leave beach houses unattended, it’s little wonder that burglary and larceny abound.

Delaware’s three lowest property crime rates all lie inland in the north-central part of the state. The cities of Cheswold, Clayton and Townsend feature similar profiles and post comparable crime numbers: between 430 and 530 property offenses per 100,000. Each town is less than two square miles in size and lies within a 15-minute drive of Smyrna. If you’re seeking sanctuary from property crime in Delaware, forget fun in the sun at the shore and head to this safer part of the state.

Statewide Crime Trends in Delaware

As the earliest ratifier of the U.S. Constitution, Delaware is often called the first state. Thankfully, though, it doesn’t rank first in the nation for either violent or property crimes. Still, Delaware posts relatively high crime numbers and is one of the more dangerous states in the region. With the 21st highest violent crime rate in the country and the 19th highest rate for property crimes, Delaware is the most felonious of its neighbors (which include Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey) except for Maryland.

Violent Crime Rates in Delaware

(per 100,000 residents)

Delawareans endure 380 violent crimes per 100,000 citizens, a rate that is 5 percent above the national average but dropped nearly 1 percent from the previous year. When broken down by individual violent crimes, Delaware generally posts safe numbers. Its murder rate is 21 percent below the nationwide norm, robberies are 22 percent under America’s rate and reported rapes are 51 percent lower. The outlier is aggravated assaults, which came in at 16 percent higher than average, buoying Delaware’s stats.

Property Crime Rates in Delaware

(per 100,000 residents)

Due to its small size and high value to the nation, Thomas Jefferson called Delaware a “jewel among the states.”⁵ Today, you can feel relatively confident storing precious stones there. Delaware’s property crime rate is 2 percent below the national average, at about 1,880 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. Even more encouraging is that the rate dropped 4.3 percent year over year. The burglary rate is 30 percent below the national norm, and vehicle thefts are 24 percent lower. The larceny-theft rate, however, was 8 percent higher than the American average — so keep those gems under lock and key.

Where Our Crime Data Comes From

Unless specified otherwise, the information in this article is based on crime data compiled by the FBI and made available through the Crime Data Explorer. Statewide violent and property crime statistics are drawn from the FBI’s 2023 Crime in the United States Report (Table 5), and for city-level crime rates, we referred to Table 8, which lists reported offenses by state and city.

Important note: Crime statistics offer valuable insights, but they aren’t the only way to evaluate a community’s safety. Local context, law enforcement practices and reporting standards can all influence how crime is recorded. Additionally, FBI publication tables and the data displayed on the Crime Data Explorer may differ slightly due to variations in methodology.