Who Should NOT Move to Delaware?

Delaware is probably not the right fit for anyone prioritizing the lowest possible income tax burden, a New Castle County property buyer who has not confirmed the current, delayed 2026 reassessment timeline, anyone relying on strong statewide job growth or one confident crime-safety figure, and anyone considering a Sussex County coastal property without directly confirming flood-insurance cost and hurricane-risk exposure.

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Anyone prioritizing the lowest possible income tax burden specifically

Anyone whose relocation decision is driven primarily by minimizing income-tax exposure should reconsider Delaware directly: the state's real, current, seven-bracket graduated income tax tops out at 6.6% on taxable income at or above $60,000, applying uniformly across filing statuses -- a rate this record discloses as genuinely above several other graduated-income-tax states this dataset has documented, including Rhode Island's own 5.99% top rate. Movers comparing Delaware against true no-income-tax states this dataset has documented elsewhere should budget for a genuinely different, more elevated income-tax picture, even though Delaware's sales and property taxes run genuinely favorable by comparison.

A New Castle County property buyer who has not directly confirmed the current, delayed 2026 reassessment and tax-bill timeline

Anyone specifically purchasing property in New Castle County should reconsider proceeding without direct confirmation of the county's real, current, disclosed property-reassessment complication: a 2020 Delaware Court of Chancery ruling found the county's property-tax assessment system unconstitutional (built on a 37-year-old 1983 valuation base at the time), and New Castle County's own resulting reassessment -- following a Senate Bill 228 quality-control review expected to complete in early September 2026 -- has pushed the county's 2026 property tax bills to a mid-November mailing, with payment due December 31, 2026. A buyer who assumes an older, pre-reassessment tax figure still applies, or who is not prepared for that delayed billing timeline, should confirm the current status directly with New Castle County before relying on this record's figures.

Anyone relying on strong statewide job growth, or on one confident, unresolved statewide crime-safety figure

Anyone relying on Delaware for strong, improving statewide job growth should reconsider without direct research into current conditions: the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ran a real 4.9% in June 2026 -- genuinely UP from 4.7% a year earlier, and modestly above the roughly 4.2% national rate cited elsewhere in this dataset, even alongside a real within-2026 improvement from a February 2026 reading of 5.4%. Anyone relying on a single, confident statewide crime-safety figure should also reconsider: this record discloses a real, substantial, and genuinely unresolved cross-source inconsistency in Delaware's own crime data -- one federal-data aggregator (USAFacts) placed Delaware's 2024 violent crime rate at approximately 361 per 100,000 residents (21st nationally, roughly middle-of-the-pack), while a separate aggregator described a rate more than double that figure (717 per 100,000, '5th highest in the nation') within an internally inconsistent summary this record could not reconcile with confidence. Anyone relying on Delaware crime data for a specific relocation decision should confirm current, local, municipal- or county-level figures directly rather than trusting either statewide figure cited here.

Anyone considering a Sussex County coastal property without directly confirming flood-insurance cost and Delaware's real coastal-storm exposure

Anyone considering a Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, Lewes, Dewey Beach, or Fenwick Island coastal property without directly confirming current flood-zone status and NFIP flood-insurance cost should reconsider without that research: Delaware's otherwise-favorable, genuinely low homeowners-insurance picture reflects general dwelling coverage rather than flood-specific coverage, a real, separate consideration given the state's real, ongoing coastal storm and flooding exposure concentrated in Sussex County specifically. Hurricane Sandy (2012) produced the highest flood tide on record at the Route 1 bridge over the Indian River Inlet and caused significant dune erosion from Bethany Beach to just south of Dewey Beach, even though Sandy's own eye made landfall roughly 60 miles north near Atlantic City, New Jersey -- a real, disclosed near-miss this record does not describe as a direct catastrophic landfall, while still crediting the genuine, ongoing coastal-flooding and erosion risk a Sussex County coastal buyer should confirm directly.

Key takeaways

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-28. Independent research; not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.