Crime & Safety in Wilmington
Wilmington's real, current crime picture runs substantially above this project's national comparison figure -- NeighborhoodScout cited an overall rate 234% above the national average -- but with a real, disclosed, sharply uneven neighborhood-level pattern this record does not smooth into a single citywide characterization.
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Learn moreA Substantially Elevated Overall Rate
NeighborhoodScout cited Wilmington's overall crime rate at 50 per 1,000 residents -- 234% above the national average by NeighborhoodScout's own framing -- with a violent-crime victimization risk of approximately 1 in 84 and a property-crime victimization risk of approximately 1 in 26. Violent crime was cited running 3.12 times the Delaware state average.
A Real, Sharp Neighborhood-Level Split
Of 46 Wilmington neighborhoods NeighborhoodScout analyzed, only 13% received a Grade A, while 30.4% were rated F or F+ -- a substantial, disclosed split, not a uniform citywide condition. Bancroft Village, Wawaset, and The Highlands were cited among the safest (Grade A+); Riverside, Price's Run, and East Side were cited among the highest-crime (Grade F/F+).
Revitalization and Elevated Crime Overlap in the Same Neighborhoods
Riverside -- one of the neighborhoods NeighborhoodScout cited with a Grade F/F+ rating -- is also the specific subject of WHYY's separately reported 'Resurrect Riverside' revitalization effort. This record discloses that overlap directly: Wilmington's crime disparity and its revitalization narrative describe genuinely overlapping, not separate, parts of the city.
Research the Specific Target Address Directly
Given the real, substantial neighborhood-level variance documented above, movers should research current, address-specific crime data directly via the Wilmington Police Department's own published statistics rather than relying on any single citywide figure -- in either direction -- in isolation.
Key takeaways
- Wilmington's overall crime rate ran 234% above the national average per NeighborhoodScout, with violent crime 3.12x the Delaware state average.
- Of 46 neighborhoods analyzed, only 13% rated Grade A while 30.4% rated F/F+ -- a real, substantial, disclosed neighborhood-level split.
- Bancroft Village, Wawaset, and The Highlands were cited as safest; Riverside, Price's Run, and East Side were cited as highest-crime.
- Riverside, cited as high-crime, is also the specific subject of a real, separately documented revitalization effort -- the two narratives overlap, not contradict.
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