Kent County vs New Castle County

A side-by-side comparison of Kent County and New Castle County: population, income, housing, and more.

Kent County and New Castle County are counties in Delaware. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

New Castle County has the higher population (573,030 vs 185,043 in Kent County). New Castle County has the higher median household income ($89,901 vs $72,872 in Kent County). New Castle County has the higher median home value ($329,800 vs $290,600 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	New Castle County
Population	185,043	573,030
Median age	38.5 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,872	$89,901
Median home value	$290,600	$329,800
Median gross rent	$1,285	$1,379
Housing units	74,997	235,057
Homeownership rate	71.0%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.7%	39.2%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	New Castle County
Population	176,699 → 185,043 (+4.7%)	556,165 → 573,030 (+3.0%)
Median household income	$60,910 → $72,872 (+19.6%)	$73,892 → $89,901 (+21.7%)
Median home value	$220,600 → $290,600 (+31.7%)	$260,800 → $329,800 (+26.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,084 → $1,285 (+18.5%)	$1,163 → $1,379 (+18.6%)

Kent County

Population

176,699185,043

Median household income

$60,910$72,872

Median home value

$220,600$290,600

Median gross rent

$1,084$1,285

New Castle County

Population

556,165573,030

Median household income

$73,892$89,901

Median home value

$260,800$329,800

Median gross rent

$1,163$1,379

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	New Castle County
Under 5	5.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.0%	15.9%
18 to 24	9.8%	9.1%
25 to 34	13.2%	14.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.2%	12.4%
55 to 64	12.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.6%	9.9%
75 and over	7.3%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	New Castle County
White (non-Hispanic)	57.6%	53.5%
Black or African American	26.4%	24.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	2.2%	5.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.1%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.9%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	New Castle County
No high school diploma	9.8%	7.4%
High school graduate	33.7%	27.3%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.4%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	17.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	New Castle County
Drove alone	78.5%	70.7%
Carpooled	9.2%	7.5%
Public transit	1.1%	2.6%
Walked	2.2%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.6%	15.5%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	New Castle County
1-unit, detached	64.9%	52.8%
1-unit, attached	9.3%	21.3%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	11.6%
20 or more units	3.6%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	10.7%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	New Castle County
Poverty rate	11.3%	10.2%
Average household size	2.58	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1993	1975