Bethany Beach vs South Bethany

A side-by-side comparison of Bethany Beach and South Bethany: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bethany Beach has the higher population (923 vs 503 in South Bethany). South Bethany has the higher median household income ($111,667 vs $105,833 in Bethany Beach). South Bethany has the higher median home value ($855,000 vs $648,500 in Bethany Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
Population	923	503
Median age	66.4 yrs	69.2 yrs
Median household income	$105,833	$111,667
Median home value	$648,500	$855,000
Median gross rent	$1,688	—
Housing units	2,630	1,276
Homeownership rate	94.9%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	64.8%	76.0%
Unemployment rate	1.8%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
Population	854 → 923 (+8.1%)	426 → 503 (+18.1%)
Median household income	$87,083 → $105,833 (+21.5%)	$91,875 → $111,667 (+21.5%)
Median home value	$497,300 → $648,500 (+30.4%)	$734,100 → $855,000 (+16.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,264 → $1,688 (+33.5%)	—

Bethany Beach

Population

854923

Median household income

$87,083$105,833

Median home value

$497,300$648,500

Median gross rent

$1,264$1,688

South Bethany

Population

426503

Median household income

$91,875$111,667

Median home value

$734,100$855,000

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
Under 5	2.0%	0.0%
5 to 17	4.3%	0.4%
18 to 24	5.3%	0.2%
25 to 34	5.0%	1.0%
35 to 44	2.9%	2.4%
45 to 54	8.0%	1.6%
55 to 64	19.1%	30.0%
65 to 74	32.4%	42.3%
75 and over	21.0%	22.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
White (non-Hispanic)	95.6%	83.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	1.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.0%	14.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
No high school diploma	2.0%	0.0%
High school graduate	11.2%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	22.1%	17.0%
Bachelor's degree	40.9%	31.6%
Graduate or professional degree	23.9%	44.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
Drove alone	51.4%	56.2%
Carpooled	2.7%	0.7%
Public transit	2.1%	0.0%
Walked	5.2%	2.2%
Bicycle	6.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	31.3%	40.1%
Other means	0.6%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
1-unit, detached	71.7%	97.8%
1-unit, attached	24.6%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Bethany Beach	South Bethany
Poverty rate	2.8%	3.6%
Average household size	1.95	1.62
Mean commute (minutes)	25	35
Median year structure built	1988	1993