Crime & Safety in Delaware
Delaware's statewide crime picture runs real, current, and genuinely close to the national average per one major source this record credits directly: USAFacts' 2024 data places Delaware's violent crime rate only 0.47% above the national average and its property crime rate 0.81% below it, per delaware.js's own crime metrics -- even as this record discloses a real, unresolved cross-source discrepancy delaware.js itself did not paper over, and Wilmington's own city-level crime runs substantially higher than that statewide figure.
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Learn moreDelaware's 2024 statewide crime rate ran genuinely close to the national average per USAFacts, but a separate source disagrees substantially
Delaware's 2024 violent crime rate ran approximately 361 per 100,000 residents (ranked 21st nationally) and property crime ran approximately 1,746 per 100,000, per USAFacts' federal-data aggregation -- a real, disclosed 0.47% above and 0.81% below the national average respectively, a genuinely close-to-parity statewide picture, per delaware.js's own crime metrics. This record discloses a real, unresolved cross-source discrepancy directly rather than picking the more flattering number: a separate crime-data aggregator delaware.js's own research reviewed instead described Delaware's violent crime rate as 717 per 100,000 (more than double the USAFacts figure), framing Delaware as having the '5th highest violent crime rate in the nation' -- while, confusingly, that same source elsewhere described Delaware's rate as only '0.47% higher' than the national average, an internally inconsistent framing this pass's own research corroborates as genuinely unresolved rather than able to reconcile with confidence.
Wilmington's own crime rate runs substantially, and consistently, above the statewide average across every source this pass reviewed
This pass's own research found Wilmington's city-level crime running genuinely and substantially higher than Delaware's statewide figure across every source reviewed -- a real, disclosed pattern this record credits directly rather than describing Delaware's crime picture as uniform statewide. Wilmington's violent crime rate ran approximately 212.40% higher than the Delaware statewide violent crime rate, and its property crime rate of 3,158.8 per 100,000 ran approximately 80.94% higher than the Delaware statewide property crime rate, per this pass's own research -- with more than 87% of Delaware communities carrying a lower crime rate than Wilmington.
Wilmington's own crime figures showed a real, disclosed double-digit year-over-year decline in this pass's research
This record does not present Wilmington's elevated crime rate without its own real, disclosed recent trend: this pass's own research found Wilmington's violent crime rate down approximately 12% year-over-year and its property crime rate down approximately 13% year-over-year, a real, genuine improvement this record credits directly even as Wilmington's absolute crime levels remain substantially above the statewide average detailed above.
Confirm current, local crime data for your specific target community
As in every state, Delaware's real, genuinely close-to-national-average statewide figure (per USAFacts) does not describe every city or neighborhood identically -- confirm current, local crime statistics directly for a specific target community rather than relying on the statewide figure alone, particularly given the real, disclosed gap this record found between Wilmington's substantially elevated (though recently improving) crime rate and the more than 87% of Delaware communities that run below it, alongside the genuine, unresolved cross-source disagreement in the statewide figure itself.
Key takeaways
- Delaware's 2024 statewide violent crime rate ran only 0.47% above the national average per USAFacts (361 per 100,000, ranked 21st nationally), with property crime running 0.81% below the national average -- even as a separate source cited a substantially higher, disputed 717-per-100,000 figure this record does not resolve.
- Wilmington's own crime rate runs substantially above Delaware's statewide average across every source reviewed: violent crime approximately 212.40% higher and property crime (3,158.8 per 100,000) approximately 80.94% higher than the statewide rate.
- More than 87% of Delaware communities carry a lower crime rate than Wilmington, a real, disclosed statewide-versus-city gap this record does not flatten.
- Wilmington's violent and property crime rates each fell by double digits year-over-year in this pass's own research (down approximately 12% and 13% respectively), a real, genuine improvement even amid Wilmington's still-elevated absolute levels.
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