Dover vs Smyrna

A side-by-side comparison of Dover and Smyrna: population, income, housing, and more.

Dover and Smyrna are places in Delaware. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Dover has the higher population (39,491 vs 13,031 in Smyrna). Smyrna has the higher median household income ($70,473 vs $58,336 in Dover). Smyrna has the higher median home value ($273,400 vs $248,500 in Dover).

Population, income & housing

	Dover	Smyrna
Population	39,491	13,031
Median age	35.1 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$58,336	$70,473
Median home value	$248,500	$273,400
Median gross rent	$1,252	$1,398
Housing units	16,659	5,227
Homeownership rate	47.0%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.1%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dover	Smyrna
Population	37,523 → 39,491 (+5.2%)	11,484 → 13,031 (+13.5%)
Median household income	$47,669 → $58,336 (+22.4%)	$67,277 → $70,473 (+4.8%)
Median home value	$175,300 → $248,500 (+41.8%)	$206,400 → $273,400 (+32.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,038 → $1,252 (+20.6%)	$1,110 → $1,398 (+25.9%)

Dover

Population

37,52339,491

Median household income

$47,669$58,336

Median home value

$175,300$248,500

Median gross rent

$1,038$1,252

Smyrna

Population

11,48413,031

Median household income

$67,277$70,473

Median home value

$206,400$273,400

Median gross rent

$1,110$1,398

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dover	Smyrna
Under 5	4.8%	10.9%
5 to 17	15.5%	15.4%
18 to 24	16.2%	8.1%
25 to 34	13.3%	17.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	15.3%
45 to 54	10.1%	9.7%
55 to 64	10.2%	8.3%
65 to 74	8.6%	9.2%
75 and over	9.0%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dover	Smyrna
White (non-Hispanic)	35.0%	54.9%
Black or African American	43.9%	30.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	2.8%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.0%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	11.3%	8.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dover	Smyrna
No high school diploma	9.6%	7.2%
High school graduate	30.9%	32.5%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	38.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.9%	16.6%
Graduate or professional degree	11.2%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dover	Smyrna
Drove alone	72.8%	80.2%
Carpooled	8.6%	6.1%
Public transit	1.9%	0.8%
Walked	6.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.7%	11.5%
Other means	1.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dover	Smyrna
1-unit, detached	40.5%	46.4%
1-unit, attached	15.6%	31.4%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	21.8%	15.2%
20 or more units	10.7%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Dover	Smyrna
Poverty rate	17.5%	8.8%
Average household size	2.31	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	24	33
Median year structure built	1985	2002