State rental market analysis · DE
Delaware rental markets
12 tracked cities over 5,000 population, 11 ranked and summarized by their median Overall; 0 of 11 evaluable cities pass the modeled Buy & Hold screen. Every number traces to Census, Zillow and BLS. Compare state coverage and results →
Browse every Delaware ZIP Code area → · the full server-rendered index for this state.
Part of the South Atlantic Census division (South region).
The honest read
Delaware has a median Overall of 60.2/100 across its ranked cities, but it is not assigned a headline state rank: 11 cities across 3 county contexts are evaluable for the Buy & Hold screen, below the published minimum of 20 cities and 10 county contexts. 11 ranked cities roll up into this grade. Its strongest factor is rent growth: 5.1%, 3rd of 51, backed by population growth (13th).
The biggest drag is low unemployment: 4.8%, 44th of 51. A state grade is the median of its ranked cities, a screen for where to look, not underwriting. Open any city below for its full shown-math breakdown, or run a specific deal through the cap rate and cash-flow calculators.
Where it ranks, factor by factor
Every value is the median across the 11 ranked cities in this state. The national rank compares all 51 states on that one factor; the engine already flips inverted factors (affordability, low unemployment) so a better rank always means a better market. Each factor sits in one of the model’s three categories (Cash Flow, Growth, or Stability); this is a representative summary, and the full thirteen-factor breakdown is on each city’s page. Full methodology.
| Factor | Category | State value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 6.4% | #18 of 51 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 5.1% | #3 of 51 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 4.0% | #24 of 51 |
| Population growth | Growth | 1.1% | #13 of 51 |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.9% | #21 of 51 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.4× | #33 of 51 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 4.8% | #44 of 51 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 45% renters · 5.2% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 4.6% | #35 of 51 |
Every city in Delaware, ranked
Led by Milford at 73/100. Click any column to re-sort; every city links to its full shown-math breakdown.
| DE rank | City | Grade | Cash Flow | Growth | Stability | Typical home value | Gross yield | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milford | 73 | B | A | B | $345,109 | 6.5% | #80 |
| 2 | Millsboro | 69 | B | A | C | $396,460 | 6.1% | #167 |
| 3 | New Castle | 69 | A | C | B | $281,557 | 7.3% | #178 |
| 4 | Middletown | 63 | B | B | C | $532,809 | 6.2% | #456 |
| 5 med | Georgetown | 62 | C | B | B | $373,750 | 6.0% | #569 |
| 6 med | Seaford | 60 | C | B | C | $316,717 | 6.3% | #693 |
| 7 med | Elsmere | 57 | B | C | C | $239,277 | 7.1% | #1067 |
| 8 med | Smyrna | 56 | C | C | C | $404,934 | 6.3% | #1116 |
| 9 | Dover | 49 | C | B | D | $343,273 | 6.0% | #2111 |
| 10 | Wilmington | 44 | C | C | D | $329,558 | 6.5% | #2871 |
| 11 | Newark | 42 | C | C | D | $365,464 | 6.7% | #3110 |
Data as of: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI through the latest monthly release · Census ACS 5-yr 2020–2024 · Census PEP July 2025 · BLS LAUS county 2025 annual (11-month average). Generated 2026-10-06. Methodology & limitations · underwrite any specific deal with the free calculators.
Limited-data cities in Delaware
These 1 cities lack enough measured factors to rank, so they are excluded from the state grade; their pages show exactly what could be measured.
ZIP markets in Delaware
68 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) in Delaware · 48 data-eligible for subscores. These are sub-city government areas ranked separately from the Delaware city table. The overall Rental Investor ZIP Score leaderboard leads; the two component subscores (affordability, rental-market context) follow as independent percentiles. ZIP ranks are shown within the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, city ranks. Vintage: the Key metric column is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), the same release the city table above uses; the geographies differ, so the same measure can still disagree between the two.
Best overall ZIP Codes in Delaware
Ranked by the overall Rental Investor ZIP Score. The # is each ZIP Code's canonical DE state rank; the smaller figure is its national rank. Separate from the Delaware city table and not directly comparable to it.
| DE rank | ZIP Code | Overallgrade · national | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 19702Glasgow | A 74#106 nat | 5.7%Survey yield |
| #2 | 19956Laurel | A 72#305 nat | 4.8%Survey yield |
| #2 | 19963Milford | A 72#305 nat | 4.7%Survey yield |
| #2 | 19966Millsboro | A 72#305 nat | 5.0%Survey yield |
| #5 | 19901Dover | A 70#584 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| #6 | 19947Georgetown | A 68#836 nat | 5.2%Survey yield |
| #6 | 19973Seaford | A 68#836 nat | 4.9%Survey yield |
| #8 | 19720New Castle | A 68#935 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| #8 | 19950Greenwood | A 68#935 nat | 5.3%Survey yield |
| #10 | 19701Bear | A 67#1,002 nat | 5.9%Survey yield |
| #11 | 19709Middletown | A 67#1,077 nat | 4.1%Survey yield |
| #12 | 19904Dover | A 66#1,242 nat | 5.3%Survey yield |
Top affordability ZIP Codes in Delaware
State-scoped leaders on the affordability subscore only (national rank shown is within that subscore’s data-eligible universe). Substantially an inverse housing-cost signal: a component of the overall score, not a predicted return.
| # | ZIP Code | Affordability | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19979Viola | 84#814 nat | 7.1%Survey yield |
| 2 | 19706Delaware City | 82#1,064 nat | 6.9%Survey yield |
| 3 | 19901Dover | 78#1,589 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| 4 | 19934Camden | 78#1,589 nat | 5.9%Survey yield |
| 5 | 19960Lincoln | 77#1,707 nat | 5.6%Survey yield |
| 6 | 19953Hartly | 75#2,115 nat | 5.6%Survey yield |
| 7 | 19720New Castle | 74#2,233 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| 8 | 19950Greenwood | 74#2,318 nat | 5.3%Survey yield |
| 9 | 19952Harrington | 74#2,318 nat | 5.3%Survey yield |
| 10 | 19947Georgetown | 73#2,430 nat | 5.2%Survey yield |
| 11 | 19966Millsboro | 71#2,755 nat | 5.0%Survey yield |
| 12 | 19802Wilmington | 71#2,818 nat | 7.6%Survey yield |
Deepest rental-market ZIP Codes in Delaware
State-scoped leaders on the rental-market-context subscore only (national rank shown is within that subscore’s data-eligible universe). Rental depth/tightness: a separate component, never combined here with affordability.
| # | ZIP Code | Rental market | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19703Claymont | 77#529 nat | 5.9%Survey yield |
| 2 | 19801Wilmington | 73#1,339 nat | 7.2%Survey yield |
| 3 | 19956Laurel | 70#2,110 nat | 4.8%Survey yield |
| 4 | 19901Dover | 69#2,233 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| 5 | 19802Wilmington | 67#2,792 nat | 7.6%Survey yield |
| 6 | 19963Milford | 67#2,866 nat | 4.7%Survey yield |
| 7 | 19805Wilmington | 65#3,522 nat | 6.2%Survey yield |
| 8 | 19807Greenville | 63#4,268 nat | 2.1%Survey yield |
| 9 | 19713Brookside | 62#4,440 nat | 5.4%Survey yield |
| 10 | 19702Glasgow | 61#5,171 nat | 5.7%Survey yield |
| 11 | 19804Newport | 60#5,381 nat | 5.6%Survey yield |
| 12 | 19947Georgetown | 57#6,466 nat | 5.2%Survey yield |