Kent County vs Sussex County

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

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

Sussex County has the higher population (247,799 vs 185,043 in Kent County). Sussex County has the higher median household income ($78,162 vs $72,872 in Kent County). Sussex County has the higher median home value ($353,300 vs $290,600 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	Sussex County
Population	185,043	247,799
Median age	38.5 yrs	51.4 yrs
Median household income	$72,872	$78,162
Median home value	$290,600	$353,300
Median gross rent	$1,285	$1,221
Housing units	74,997	147,904
Homeownership rate	71.0%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.7%	32.6%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	Sussex County
Population	176,699 → 185,043 (+4.7%)	224,384 → 247,799 (+10.4%)
Median household income	$60,910 → $72,872 (+19.6%)	$63,162 → $78,162 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$220,600 → $290,600 (+31.7%)	$258,600 → $353,300 (+36.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,084 → $1,285 (+18.5%)	$1,030 → $1,221 (+18.5%)

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

Sussex County

Population

224,384247,799

Median household income

$63,162$78,162

Median home value

$258,600$353,300

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,221

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	Sussex County
Under 5	5.9%	4.8%
5 to 17	17.0%	13.5%
18 to 24	9.8%	6.1%
25 to 34	13.2%	9.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	9.7%
45 to 54	11.2%	10.4%
55 to 64	12.9%	16.5%
65 to 74	10.6%	18.7%
75 and over	7.3%	10.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	Sussex County
White (non-Hispanic)	57.6%	72.8%
Black or African American	26.4%	10.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	2.2%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.1%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	7.9%	11.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	Sussex County
No high school diploma	9.8%	10.4%
High school graduate	33.7%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	27.5%
Bachelor's degree	16.4%	18.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	13.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	Sussex County
Drove alone	78.5%	76.8%
Carpooled	9.2%	8.0%
Public transit	1.1%	0.3%
Walked	2.2%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	7.6%	11.8%
Other means	1.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	Sussex County
1-unit, detached	64.9%	65.3%
1-unit, attached	9.3%	9.8%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	2.9%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	5.7%
20 or more units	3.6%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	10.7%	13.3%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	Sussex County
Poverty rate	11.3%	11.5%
Average household size	2.58	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1993	1999