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State of Delaware
Flag of Delaware State seal of Delaware
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The First State; The Small Wonder;[1] Blue Hen State; The Diamond State
Motto(s): Liberty and Independence
Map of the United States with Delaware highlighted
Demonym Delawarean
Capital Dover
Largest city Wilmington
Area  Ranked 49th in the U.S.
 - Total 1,982[2] sq mi
(5,130 km2)
 - Width 30 miles (48 km)
 - Length 96 miles (154 km)
 - % water 21.5
 - Latitude 38° 27′ N to 39° 50′ N
 - Longitude 75° 3′ W to 75° 47′ W
Population  Ranked 45th in the U.S.
 - Total 989948
 - Density 469/sq mi  (179/km2)
Ranked 6th in the U.S.
 - Median household income  $62,852[3] (16th)
Elevation  
 - Highest point Near the
Ebright Azimuth[4][5][6]
447.85 ft (136.50468 m)
 - Mean 60 ft  (20 m)
 - Lowest point Atlantic Ocean[4]
sea level
Admission to Union  December 7, 1787 (1st)
Governor John Carney (D)
Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long (D)
Legislature General Assembly
 - Upper house Senate
 - Lower house House of Representatives
U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D)
Chris Coons (D)
U.S. House delegation Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) (list)
Time zone Eastern: UTC −5/−4
Abbreviations DE Del. US-DE
Website delaware.gov/

Delaware State Symbols
Flag of Delaware
The Flag of Delaware.

Seal of Delaware
The Seal of Delaware.

Animate insignia
Bird(s) Delaware Blue Hen
Butterfly Eastern tiger swallowtail
Fish Weakfish
Flower(s) Peach blossom
Insect 7-spotted ladybug
Tree American holly

Inanimate insignia
Beverage Milk
Colors Colonial blue, buff
Food Strawberry, peach custard pie
Fossil Belemnite
Mineral Sillimanite
Slogan(s) Endless Discoveries [7] – Formerly: It's Good Being First
Soil Greenwich
Song(s) "Our Delaware"

Route marker(s)
Delaware Route Marker

State Quarter
Quarter of Delaware
Released in 1999

Lists of United States state insignia

Delaware ( /ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair)[8] is a state in the Mid-Atlantic[9] region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the nearby Delaware River, in turn named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.[10]

Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and some islands and territory within the Delaware River. It is the second-smallest and sixth-least populous state, but also the sixth-most densely populated. Delaware's largest city is Wilmington, while the state capital is Dover, the second-largest city in the state. The state is divided into three counties, having the lowest number of any state (unless one counts Louisiana and Alaska, which do not have counties, but parishes and boroughs respectively); from north to south, they are New Castle County, Kent County, and Sussex County. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle is more urbanized, being part of the Delaware Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area centered on Philadelphia. Delaware's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, and Southern regions of the country.

Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north and Nanticoke in the south. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, in 1631. Delaware was one of the Thirteen Colonies that took part in the American Revolution. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, and has since been known as The First State.[11] Since the turn of the 20th century, Delaware is also a de facto onshore corporate haven, in which by virtue of its corporate laws, the state is the domicile of over half of all NYSE-listed business and over three-fifths of the Fortune 500.

Toponymy[]

The state was named after the Delaware River, which in turn derived its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577–1618) who was the ruling governor of the Colony of Virginia at the time Europeans first explored the river. The Delaware people, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source.

The name de La Warr is from Sussex and of Anglo-French origin.[12] [13] It came probably from a Norman lieu-dit La Guerre. This toponymic could derive from Latin ager, from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum (fallow). The toponyms Gara, Gare, Gaire (the sound [ä] often mutated in [æ]) also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset, where the word ga(i)ra means gore. It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr.

History[]


Native Americans[]

Before Delaware was settled by European colonists, the area was home to the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape, or Delaware, who lived mostly along the coast, and the Nanticoke who occupied much of the southern Delmarva Peninsula. John Smith also shows two Iroquoian tribes, the Kuskarawock and Tockwogh, living north of the Nanticoke—they may have held small portions of land in the western part of the state before migrating across the Chesapeake Bay.[14] The Kuskarawocks were most likely the Tuscarora.

The Unami Lenape in the Delaware Valley were closely related to Munsee Lenape tribes along the Hudson River. They had a settled hunting and agricultural society, and they rapidly became middlemen in an increasingly frantic fur trade with their ancient enemy, the Minqua or Susquehannock. With the loss of their lands on the Delaware River and the destruction of the Minqua by the Iroquois of the Five Nations in the 1670s, the remnants of the Lenape who wished to remain identified as such left the region and moved over the Alleghany Mountains by the mid-18th century. Generally, those who did not relocate out of the state of Delaware were baptized, became Christian and were grouped together with other persons of color in official records and in the minds of their non-Native American neighbors.

Colonial Delaware[]

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware in the middle region by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael, near the site of Lewes in 1631.[15] Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Native American tribes. In 1638 New Sweden, a Swedish trading post and colony, was established at Fort Christina (now in Wilmington) by Peter Minuit at the head of a group of Swedes, Finns and Dutch. The colony of New Sweden lasted 17 years. In 1651 the Dutch, reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, established a fort at present-day New Castle, and in 1655 they conquered the New Sweden colony, annexing it into the Dutch New Netherland.[16][17] Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were conquered by a fleet of English ships by Sir Robert Carr under the direction of James, the Duke of York. Fighting off a prior claim by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware"[16] from the Duke.

Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682. However, by 1704 the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties, and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own, one at Philadelphia, and the other at New Castle. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique. From 1703 to 1738 New York and New Jersey shared a governor.[18] Massachusetts and New Hampshire also shared a governor for some time.[19]

Dependent in early years on indentured labor, Delaware imported more slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better economic conditions in England. The colony became a slave society and cultivated tobacco as a cash crop, although English immigrants continued to arrive.

American Revolution[]

Like the other middle colonies, the Lower Counties on the Delaware initially showed little enthusiasm for a break with Britain. The citizenry had a good relationship with the Proprietary government, and generally were allowed more independence of action in their Colonial Assembly than in other colonies. Merchants at the port of Wilmington had trading ties with the British.

So it was that New Castle lawyer Thomas McKean denounced the Stamp Act in the strongest terms, and Kent County native John Dickinson became the "Penman of the Revolution." Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15, 1776. The person best representing Delaware's majority, George Read, could not bring himself to vote for a Declaration of Independence. Only the dramatic overnight ride of Caesar Rodney gave the delegation the votes needed to cast Delaware's vote for independence.

Initially led by John Haslet, Delaware provided one of the premier regiments in the Continental Army, known as the "Delaware Blues" and nicknamed the "Blue Hen's Chicks". In August 1777 General Sir William Howe led a British army through Delaware on his way to a victory at the Battle of Brandywine and capture of the city of Philadelphia. The only real engagement on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, fought on September 3, 1777, at Cooch's Bridge in New Castle County, although there was a minor Loyalist rebellion in 1778.

Following the Battle of Brandywine, Wilmington was occupied by the British, and State President John McKinly was taken prisoner. The British remained in control of the Delaware River for much of the rest of the war, disrupting commerce and providing encouragement to an active Loyalist portion of the population, particularly in Sussex County. Because the British promised slaves of rebels freedom for fighting with them, escaped slaves flocked north to join their lines.[20]

Following the American Revolution, statesmen from Delaware were among the leading proponents of a strong central United States with equal representation for each state.

Slavery and race[]

Many colonial settlers came to Delaware from Maryland and Virginia, where the population had been increasing rapidly. The economies of these colonies were chiefly based on labor-intensive tobacco and increasingly dependent on African slaves because of a decline in working class immigrants from England. Most of the English colonists had arrived as indentured servants (contracted for a fixed period to pay for their passage), and in the early years the line between servant and slave was fluid.

Most of the free African-American families in Delaware before the Revolution had migrated from Maryland to find more affordable land. They were descendants chiefly of relationships or marriages between white servant women and enslaved, servant or free African or African-American men.[21] Under slavery law, children took the social status of their mothers, so children born to white women were free, regardless of their paternity, just as children born to enslaved women were born into slavery. As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in England, more slaves were imported for labor and the caste lines hardened.

By the end of the colonial period, the number of enslaved people in Delaware began to decline. Shifts in the agriculture economy from tobacco to mixed farming resulted in less need for slaves' labor. In addition local Methodists and Quakers encouraged slaveholders to free their slaves following the American Revolution, and many did so in a surge of individual manumissions for idealistic reasons. By 1810 three-quarters of all blacks in Delaware were free. When John Dickinson freed his slaves in 1777, he was Delaware's largest slave owner with 37 slaves. By 1860, the largest slaveholder owned 16 slaves.[22]

Although attempts to abolish slavery failed by narrow margins in the legislature, in practical terms the state had mostly ended the practice. By the 1860 census on the verge of the Civil War, 91.7% of the black population were free;[23] 1,798 were slaves, as compared to 19,829 "free colored persons".[24]

An independent black denomination was chartered in 1813 by freed slave Peter Spencer as the "Union Church of Africans". This followed the 1793 establishment in Philadelphia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church by Richard Allen, which had ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1816. Spencer built a church in Wilmington for the new denomination.[25] This was renamed as the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection, more commonly known as the A.U.M.P. Church. In 1814, Spencer called for the first annual gathering, known as the Big August Quarterly, which continues to draw members of this denomination and their descendants together in a religious and cultural festival.[26]

Delaware voted against secession on January 3, 1861, and so remained in the Union. While most Delaware citizens who fought in the war served in the regiments of the state, some served in companies on the Confederate side in Maryland and Virginia Regiments. Delaware is notable for being the only slave state from which no Confederate regiments or militia groups were assembled. Delaware essentially freed the few slaves who were still in bondage shortly after the Civil War but rejected the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution; the 13th Amendment was rejected on February 8, 1865, the 14th Amendment was rejected on February 8, 1867, and the 15th Amendment was rejected on March 18, 1869. Delaware officially ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments on February 12, 1901.

Reconstruction and industrialization[]

After the Civil War, Democratic governments led by the state's Bourbon aristocracy continued to dominate the state and imposed an explicitly white supremacist regime in the state. The Democratic legislatures declared blacks second-class citizens in 1866 and restricted their voting rights despite the Fifteenth Amendment, ensuring continued Democratic success throughout most of the nineteenth century.[27]

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the Wilmington area grew into a manufacturing center. Investment in manufacturing in the city grew from $5.5 million in 1860 to $44 million in 1900.[28] The most notable manufacturer in the state was the Du Pont Company. Because of Wilmington's growth, local politicians from the city and New Castle County pressured the state government to adopt a new constitution providing the north with more representation. However, the subsequent 1897 constitution did not proportionally represent the north and continued to give the southern counties disproportionate influence.[29]

As manufacturing expanded, businesses became major players in state affairs and funders of politicians through families such as the Du Ponts. Republican John Addicks attempted to buy a US Senate seat multiple times in a rivalry with the Du Ponts until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.[30] The allegiance of industries with the Republican party allowed them to gain control of the state's governorship throughout most of the twentieth century. The GOP ensured blacks could vote because of their general support for Republicans and thus undid restrictions on black suffrage.[31]

Delaware benefited greatly from World War I because of the state's large gunpowder industry. The Du Pont Company, the most dominant business in the state by WWI, produced an estimated 40% of all gunpowder used by the Allies during the war. It produced nylon in the state after the war and began investments into General Motors.[32] Additionally, the company invested heavily in the expansion of public schools in the state and colleges such as the University of Delaware in the 1910s and 1920s. This included primary and secondary schools for blacks and women.[33] Delaware suffered less during the Great Depression than other states, but the depression spurred further migration from the rural south to urban areas.[34]

World War II to present[]

Like in World War I, the state enjoyed a big stimulus to its gunpowder and shipyard industries in World War II. New job opportunities during and after the war in the Wilmington area coaxed African Americans from the southern counties to move to the city. The proportion of blacks constituting the city's population rose from 15% in 1950 to over 50% by 1980.[35] The surge of black migrants to the north sparked white flight in which middle class whites moved from the city to suburban areas, leading to general segregation of Delaware's society. In the 1940s and 1950s, the state attempted to integrate its schools. The University of Delaware admitted its first black student in 1948, and local courts ruled that primary schools had to be integrated. Delaware's integration efforts partially inspired the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.[36]

However, integration only encouraged more white flight, and poor economic conditions for the black population led to some violence during the 1960s. Riots broke out in Wilmington in 1967 and again in 1968 in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr after which the National Guard occupied the city for nine months to prevent further violence.[37]

Since WWII, the state has been generally economically prosperous and enjoyed relatively high per capita income because of its location between major cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC.[38] Its population grew rapidly, particularly in the suburbs in the north where New Castle county became an extension of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.[39] Americans, including migrants from Puerto Rico, and immigrants from Latin America flocked to the state. By 1990, only 50% of Delaware's population consisted of natives to the state.[40]

Geography[]

National-atlas-delaware

Map of Delaware

Twelve-mile-circle

The Twelve-Mile Circle

Blackbird pond

The Blackbird Pond on the Blackbird State Forest Meadows Tract in New Castle County, Delaware

MiddleRunArea Field LenapeTrail

A field north of Fox Den Road, along the Lenape Trail in Middle Run Valley Natural Area

Woodbrook test

Sunset in Woodbrook, New Castle County, Delaware

Delaware is 96 miles (154 km) long and ranges from 9 miles (14 km) to 35 miles (56 km) across, totaling 1,982 square miles (5,130 km2),[41] making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and south by Maryland. Small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and two counties of Virginia, form the Delmarva Peninsula, which stretches down the Mid-Atlantic Coast.

The definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles (19.3 km) from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle. This boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle.[lower-alpha 1] Although the Twelve-Mile Circle is often claimed to be the only territorial boundary in the U.S. that is a true arc, the Mexican boundary with Texas includes several arcs,[42] and many cities in the South (such as Plains, Georgia)[43] also have circular boundaries.

This border extends all the way east to the low-tide mark on the New Jersey shore, then continues south along the shoreline until it again reaches the 12-mile (19 km) arc in the south; then the boundary continues in a more conventional way in the middle of the main channel (thalweg) of the Delaware River.

To the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc. The Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delaware's claim was confirmed.

Topography[]

Delaware is on a level plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation.[44] Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, is less than 450 feet (140 m) above sea level.[44] The northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces.

The Atlantic Seaboard fall line approximately follows the Robert Kirkwood Highway between Newark and Wilmington; south of this road is the Atlantic Coastal Plain with flat, sandy, and, in some parts, swampy ground.[45] A ridge about 75 to 80 feet (23 to 24 m) high extends along the western boundary of the state and separates the watersheds that feed Delaware River and Bay to the east and the Chesapeake Bay to the west.

Climate[]

Köppen Climate Types Delaware

Delaware Köppen climate classification is humid subtropical.

Since almost all of Delaware is a part of the Atlantic coastal plain, the effects of the ocean moderate its climate. The state lies in the humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) zone. Despite its small size (roughly 100 miles (160 km) from its northernmost to southernmost points), there is significant variation in mean temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle County. Moderated by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, the southern portion of the state has a milder climate and a longer growing season than the northern portion of the state. Delaware's all-time record high of 110 °F (43 °C) was recorded at Millsboro on July 21, 1930. The all-time record low of −17 °F (−27.2 °C) was also recorded at Millsboro, on January 17, 1893. The hardiness zones are 6b, 7a and 7b.

Environment[]

The transitional climate of Delaware supports a wide variety of vegetation. In the northern third of the state are found Northeastern coastal forests and mixed oak forests typical of the northeastern United States.[46] In the southern two-thirds of the state are found Middle Atlantic coastal forests.[46] Trap Pond State Park, along with areas in other parts of Sussex County, for example, support the northernmost stands of bald cypress trees in North America.

Environmental management[]

Delaware provides government subsidy support for the clean-up of property "lightly contaminated" by hazardous waste, the proceeds for which come from a tax on wholesale petroleum sales.[47]

Municipalities[]

Wilmington is the state's most populous city (70,635) and its economic hub. It is located within commuting distance of both Philadelphia and Baltimore. Dover is the state capital and the second most populous city (38,079).

Dover Delaware

Dover

Newark DE Main Street

Newark

High Street, Seaford, Delaware (2006)

Seaford

Wilmington Delaware skyline

Wilmington

Counties[]

Cities[]

Towns[]

  • Bellefonte
  • Bethany Beach
  • Bethel
  • Blades
  • Bowers
  • Bridgeville
  • Camden
  • Cheswold
  • Clayton
  • Dagsboro
  • Delmar
  • Dewey Beach
  • Ellendale
  • Elsmere
  • Farmington
  • Felton
  • Fenwick Island
  • Frankford
  • Frederica
  • Georgetown
  • Greenwood
  • Hartly
  • Henlopen Acres
  • Houston
  • Kenton
  • Laurel
  • Leipsic
  • Little Creek
  • Magnolia
  • Millsboro
  • Millville
  • Milton
  • Newport
  • Ocean View
  • Odessa
  • Selbyville
  • Slaughter Beach
  • Smyrna
  • South Bethany
  • Townsend
  • Viola
  • Woodside
  • Wyoming

Villages[]

  • Arden
  • Ardencroft
  • Ardentown

Unincorporated places[]

  • Bear
  • Brookside
  • Christiana
  • Clarksville
  • Claymont
  • Dover Base Housing
  • Edgemoor
  • Glasgow
  • Greenville
  • Gumboro
  • Harbeson
  • Highland Acres
  • Hockessin
  • Kent Acres
  • Lincoln City
  • Long Neck
  • Marshallton
  • Mount Pleasant
  • North Star
  • Oak Orchard
  • Omar
  • Pennyhill
  • Pike Creek
  • Rising Sun-Lebanon
  • Riverview
  • Rodney Village
  • Roxana
  • Saint Georges
  • Sandtown
  • Stanton
  • Wilmington Manor
  • Woodland
  • Woodside East
  • Yorklyn

The table below lists the ten largest municipalities in the state based on the 2018 United States census estimate.[48]

 
Largest cities or towns in Delaware
2018 census estimates
Rank County Pop.
Wilmington
Wilmington
Dover
Dover
1 Wilmington New Castle 70,635 Newark
Newark
Middletown
Middletown
2 Dover Kent 38,079
3 Newark New Castle 33,673
4 Middletown New Castle 22,582
5 Smyrna New Castle/Kent 11,580
6 Milford Kent/Sussex 11,353
7 Seaford Sussex 7,861
8 Georgetown Sussex 7,427
9 Elsmere New Castle 5,981
10 New Castle New Castle 5,529

Demographics[]

Delaware population map

Delaware population density map

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1790 59,096
1800 64,273 8.8%
1810 72,674 13.1%
1820 72,749 0.1%
1830 76,748 5.5%
1840 78,085 1.7%
1850 91,532 17.2%
1860 112,216 22.6%
1870 125,015 11.4%
1880 146,608 17.3%
1890 168,493 14.9%
1900 184,735 9.6%
1910 202,322 9.5%
1920 223,003 10.2%
1930 238,380 6.9%
1940 266,505 11.8%
1950 318,085 19.4%
1960 446,292 40.3%
1970 548,104 22.8%
1980 594,338 8.4%
1990 666,168 12.1%
2000 783,600 17.6%
2010 897,934 14.6%
Source: 1910–2020[49]

The United States Census Bureau determined that the population of Delaware was 989,948 on April 1, 2020,[50] an increase since the 2010 United States census at 897,934.[51][52]

Delaware's history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and the Southern regions of the United States. Generally, the rural Southern (or "Slower Lower") regions of Delaware below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal embody a Southern culture,[53][54] while densely-populated Northern Delaware above the canal—particularly Wilmington, a part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area—has more in common with that of the Northeast.[55] The U.S. Census Bureau designates Delaware as one of the South Atlantic States, but it is commonly associated with the Mid-Atlantic States and/or northeastern United States by other federal agencies, the media, and some residents.[56][57][58][59][60][61]

Delaware is the sixth most densely populated state, with a population density of 442.6 people per square mile, 356.4 per square mile more than the national average, and ranking 45th in population. Delaware is one of five U.S. states (Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming) that do not have a single city with a population over 100,000 as of the 2010 census.[62] The center of population of Delaware is in New Castle County, in the town of Townsend.[63]

As of 2011, 49.7% of Delaware's population younger than one year of age belonged to minority groups (i.e., did not have two parents of non-Hispanic white ancestry).[64] In 2000 approximately 19% of the population were African-American and 5% of the population is Hispanic (mostly of Puerto Rican or Mexican ancestry).[65]

Race and ethnicity[]

According to the 2010 United States census, the racial composition of the state was 68.9% White American (65.3% Non-Hispanic White, 3.6% White Hispanic), 21.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.2% Asian American, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 3.4% some other race, and 2.7% Multiracial American. Ethnically, Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 8.2% of the population.[66] The 2019 American Community Survey estimated the state had a racial and ethnic makeup of 61.% non-Hispanic whites, 23.2% Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian or Alaska Native, 4.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.7% multiracial, and 9.6% Hispanic or Latin American of any race.[67]

In the Native American community, the state has a Native American group (called in their own language Lenni Lenape) which was influential in the colonial period of the United States and is today headquartered in Cheswold, Kent County, Delaware.[68] A band of the Nanticoke tribe of American Indians today resides in Sussex County and is headquartered in Millsboro, Sussex County, Delaware.[69]

Delaware racial breakdown of population
Racial composition 1990[70] 2000[71] 2010[72]
White 80.3% 74.6% 68.9%
Black 16.9% 19.2% 21.4%
Asian 1.4% 2.1% 3.2%
Native 0.3% 0.4% 0.5%
Native Hawaiian and
other Pacific Islander
Other race 1.1% 2.0% 3.4%
Two or more races 1.7% 2.7%

Birth data[]

Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.

Live Births by Single Race/Ethnicity of Mother
Race 2013[73] 2014[74] 2015[75] 2016[76] 2017[77] 2018[78] 2019[79] 2020[80]
White: 7,204 (66.5%) 7,314 (66.7%) 7,341 (65.7%) ... ... ... ... ...
> Non-Hispanic White 5,942 (54.8%) 5,904 (53.8%) 5,959 (53.4%) 5,827 (53.0%) 5,309 (48.9%) 5,171 (48.7%) 5,024 (47.6%) 4,949 (47.6%)
Black 3,061 (28.3%) 2,988 (27.2%) 3,134 (28.1%) 2,832 (25.7%) 2,818 (26.0%) 2,773 (26.1%) 2,804 (26.5%) 2,722 (26.2%)
Asian 541 (5.0%) 644 (5.9%) 675 (6.1%) 627 (5.7%) 646 (6.0%) 634 (6.0%) 624 (5.9%) 617 (5.9%)
American Indian 25 (0.2%) 26 (0.2%) 16 (0.1%) 13 (0.1%) 23 (0.2%) 10 (0.1%) 18 (0.2%) 18 (0.2%)
Hispanic (of any race) 1,348 (12.4%) 1,541 (14.0%) 1,532 (13.7%) 1,432 (13.0%) 1,748 (16.1%) 1,710 (16.1%) 1,737 (16.4%) 1,768 (17.0%)
Total Delaware 10,831 (100%) 10,972 (100%) 11,166 (100%) 10,992 (100%) 10,855 (100%) 10,621 (100%) 10,562 (100%) 10,392 (100%)
  • Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Languages[]

As of 2000, 91% of Delaware residents of ageTemplate:Nbs5 and older spoke only English at home; 5% spoke Spanish. French was the third-most spoken language at 0.7%, followed by Chinese at 0.5% and German at 0.5%.

Legislation had been proposed in both the House and the Senate in Delaware to designate English as the official language.[81][82] Neither bill was passed in the legislature.

Sexual orientation[]

A 2012 Gallup poll found that Delaware's proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults stood at 3.4 percent of the population. This constitutes a total LGBT adult population estimate of 23,698 people. The number of same-sex couple households in 2010 stood at 2,646. This grew by 41.65% from a decade earlier.[83] On July 1, 2013, same-sex marriage was legalized, and all civil unions would be converted into marriages.[84]

Religion[]

Religion in Delaware (2014)[85]
Religion Percent
Protestant
  
46%
None
  
23%
Catholic
  
22%
Jewish
  
3%
Hindu
  
2%
Other
  
2%
Mormon
  
1%
Muslim
  
1%
Orthodox Christian
  
1%

As of 2014, Delaware is mostly Christian. Although Protestants account for almost half of the population,[85] the Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in the state. The Association of Religion Data Archives[86] reported in 2010 that the three largest denominational groups in Delaware by number of adherents are the Catholic Church at 182,532 adherents, the United Methodist Church with 53,656 members reported, and non-denominational Evangelical Protestant with 22,973 adherents reported. The religious body with the largest number of congregations is the United Methodist Church (with 158 congregations) followed by non-denominational Evangelical Protestant (with 106 congregations), then the Catholic Church (with 45 congregations).

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware oversee the parishes within their denominations. The A.U.M.P. Church, the oldest African-American denomination in the nation, was founded in Wilmington. It still has a substantial presence in the state. Reflecting new immigrant populations, an Islamic mosque has been built in the Ogletown area, and a Hindu temple in Hockessin.

Delaware is home to an Amish community which resides west of Dover in Kent County, consisting of nine church districts and about 1,650 people. The Amish first settled in Kent County in 1915. In recent years, increasing development has led to the decline in the number of Amish living in the community.[87][88][89]

A 2012 survey of religious attitudes in the United States found that 34% of Delaware residents considered themselves "moderately religious", 33% "very religious", and 33% as "non-religious".[90] At the 2014 Pew Research survey, 23% of the population were irreligious.

Economy[]

Affluence[]

Average sale price for new & existing homes (in U.S. dollars)[91]
DE County March 2010 March 2011
New Castle 229,000 216,000
Sussex 323,000 296,000
Kent 186,000 178,000

According to a 2020 study by Kiplinger, Delaware had the seventeenth largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 6.98 percent, 0.7 percent from 2013 in ration but falling eight places in ranking. Delaware had 25,937 millionaires as of 2020. The median income for all Delaware households as of 2020 was $64,805.[92][93]

Agriculture[]

Peach delaware

Picking Peaches in Delaware, from an 1878 issue of Harper's Weekly

Delaware's agricultural output consists of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn.

Industries[]

As of October 2019, the state's unemployment rate was 3.7%.[94]

The state's largest employers are:

  • government (State of Delaware, New Castle County)
  • education (University of Delaware, Delaware Technical Community College)
  • banking (Bank of America, M&T Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank)
  • chemical, pharmaceutical, technology (DuPont de Nemours Inc., AstraZeneca, Syngenta, Agilent Technologies)
  • healthcare (ChristianaCare (Christiana Hospital), Bayhealth Medical Center, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware)
  • farming, specifically chicken farming in Sussex County (Perdue Farms, Mountaire Farms, Allen Family Foods)
  • retail (Walmart, Walgreens, Acme Markets)

Industrial decline[]

Since the mid-2000s, Delaware has seen the departure of the state's automotive manufacturing industry (General Motors Wilmington Assembly and Chrysler Newark Assembly), the corporate buyout of a major bank holding company (MBNA), the departure of the state's steel industry (Evraz Claymont Steel), the bankruptcy of a fiber mill (National Vulcanized Fibre),[95] and the diminishing presence of AstraZeneca in Wilmington.[96][97]

In late 2015, DuPont announced that 1,700 employees, nearly a third of its footprint in Delaware, would be laid off in early 2016.[98] The merger of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and Dow Chemical Company into DowDuPont took place on September 1, 2017.[99][100][101][102]

Incorporation in Delaware[]

More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and 63% of the Fortune 500, are incorporated in Delaware.[103] The state's attractiveness as a corporate haven is largely because of its business-friendly corporation law. Franchise taxes on Delaware corporations supply about a fifth of the state's revenue.[104] Although "USA (Delaware)" ranked as the world's most opaque jurisdiction on the Tax Justice Network's 2009 Financial Secrecy Index,[105] the same group's 2011 Index ranks the U.S. fifth and does not specify Delaware.[106] In Delaware, there are more than a million registered corporations,[107] meaning there are more corporations than people.

Food and drink[]

Title 4, chapter 7 of the Delaware Code stipulates that alcoholic liquor be sold only in specifically licensed establishments, and only between 9:00Template:Nbsa.m. and 1:00Template:Nbsa.m.[108] Until 2003, Delaware was among the several states enforcing blue laws and banned the sale of liquor on Sunday.[109]

Media[]

Newspapers[]

Two daily newspapers are based in Delaware, the Delaware State News, based in Dover and covering the two southern counties, and The News Journal covering Wilmington and northern Delaware. The state is also served by several weekly, monthly and online publications.

Television[]

No standalone television stations are based solely in Delaware. The northern part of the state is served by network stations in Philadelphia and the southern part by network stations in Salisbury, Maryland. Philadelphia's ABC affiliate, WPVI-TV, maintains a news bureau in downtown Wilmington. Salisbury's CBS affiliate, WBOC-TV, maintains bureaus in Dover and Milton. Three Philadelphia-market stations—PBS member WHYY-TV, Ion affiliate WPPX, and MeTV affiliate WDPN-TV—all have Wilmington as their city of license, but maintain transmitters at the market antenna farm in Roxborough and do not produce any Delaware-centric programming.

Radio[]

There are a numerous radio stations licensed in Delaware. WDEL 1150AM, WHGE-LP 95.3 FM, WILM 1450 AM, WJBR-FM 99.5, WMPH 91.7 FM, WSTW 93.7 FM, WTMC 1380 AM and WWTX 1290AM are licensed from Wilmington. WRDX 92.9 FM is licensed from Smyrna. WDOV 1410AM, WDSD 94.7 FM and WRTX 91.7 FM are licensed from Dover.

Tourism[]

Rehoboth Beach looking north at Delaware Avenue August 2021

Rehoboth Beach is a popular vacation spot during the summer months.

Fort Delaware LOC 384066pu

Fort Delaware State Park on Pea Patch Island is a popular spot during the spring and summer. A ferry takes visitors to the fort from nearby Delaware City.

Delaware is home to First State National Historical Park, a National Park Service unit composed of historic sites across the state including the New Castle Court House, Green, and Sheriff's House, Dover Green, Beaver Valley, Fort Christina, Old Swedes' Church, John Dickinson Plantation, and the Ryves Holt House.[110] Delaware has several museums, wildlife refuges, parks, houses, lighthouses, and other historic places.

Rehoboth Beach, together with the towns of Lewes, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island, comprise Delaware's beach resorts. Rehoboth Beach often bills itself as "The Nation's Summer Capital" because it is a frequent summer vacation destination for Washington, D.C., residents as well as visitors from Maryland, Virginia, and in lesser numbers, Pennsylvania. Vacationers are drawn for many reasons, including the town's charm, artistic appeal, nightlife, and tax-free shopping. According to SeaGrant Delaware, the Delaware beaches generate $6.9Template:Nbsbillion annually and over $711Template:Nbsmillion in tax revenue.[111]

Delaware is home to several festivals, fairs, and events. Some of the more notable festivals are the Riverfest held in Seaford, the World Championship Punkin Chunkin formerly held at various locations throughout the state since 1986, the Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival, the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral to mark the end of summer, the Apple Scrapple Festival held in Bridgeville, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival, the Sea Witch Halloween Festival and Parade in Rehoboth Beach, the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, the Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow in Oak Orchard, Firefly Music Festival, and the Return Day Parade held after every election in Georgetown.

In 2015, tourism in Delaware generated $3.1Template:Nbsbillion, which makes up five percent of the state's GDP. Delaware saw 8.5Template:Nbsmillion visitors in 2015, with the tourism industry employing 41,730 people, making it the 4th largest private employer in the state. Major origin markets for Delaware tourists include Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, with 97% of tourists arriving to the state by car and 75% of tourists coming from a distance of 200 miles (320 km) or less.[112]

Delaware is also home to two large sporting venues. Dover Motor Speedway is a race track in Dover, and Frawley Stadium in Wilmington is the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Minor League Baseball team.

Education[]

UDel Memorial and Magnolia Circle

University of Delaware

In the early 1920s, Pierre S. du Pont served as president of the state board of education. At the time, state law prohibited money raised from white taxpayers from being used to support the state's schools for black children. Appalled by the condition of the black schools, du Pont donated four million dollars to construct 86 new school buildings.[113]

Delaware was the origin of Belton v. Gebhart (1952), one of the four cases which were combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United States decision that led to the end of officially segregated public schools. Significantly, Belton was the only case in which the state court found for the plaintiffs, thereby ruling that segregation is unconstitutional.

Unlike many states, Delaware's educational system is centralized in a state Superintendent of Education, with local school boards retaining control over taxation and some curriculum decisions. This centralized system, combined with the small size of the state, likely contributed to Delaware becoming the first state, after completion of a three-year, $30Template:Nbsmillion program ending in 1999, to wire every K-12 classroom in the state to the Internet.[114]

As of 2011, the Delaware Department of Education had authorized the founding of 25 charter schools in the state, one of them being all-girls.[115]

All teachers in the State's public school districts are unionized.[116] As of January 2012, none of the State's charter schools are members of a teachers union.[116] One of the State's teachers' unions is Delaware State Education Association (DSEA).[116]

Colleges and universities[]

  • Delaware College of Art and Design
  • Delaware State University
  • Delaware Technical & Community College
  • Drexel University at Wilmington
  • Goldey-Beacom College
  • University of Delaware—Ranked 63rd in the U.S. and in top 201–250 in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018)
  • Wesley College
  • Widener University School of Law
  • Wilmington University

Transportation[]

1969 Delaware license plate 000000 sample

Delaware's license plate design, introduced in 1959, is the longest-running one in U.S. history.[117]

The transportation system in Delaware is under the governance and supervision of the Delaware Department of Transportation, also known as "DelDOT".[118][119] Funding for DelDOT projects is drawn, in part, from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund, established in 1987 to help stabilize transportation funding; the availability of the Trust led to a gradual separation of DelDOT operations from other Delaware state operations.[120] DelDOT manages programs such as a Delaware Adopt-a-Highway program, major road route snow removal, traffic control infrastructure (signs and signals), toll road management, Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, the Delaware Transit Corporation (branded as "DART First State", the state government public transportation organization), among others. In 2009, DelDOT maintained 13,507 lane-miles, totaling 89 percent of the state's public roadway system, the rest being under the supervision of individual municipalities. This far exceeds the national average (20 percent) for state department of transportation maintenance responsibility.[121]

Roads[]

DE 1 NB from DE 299 overpass

Delaware Route 1 (DETemplate:Nbs1) is a partial toll road linking Fenwick Island and Wilmington.

One major branch of the U.S. Interstate Highway System, [[Interstate 95 in Delaware|InterstateTemplate:Nbs95]] (I-95), crosses Delaware southwest-to-northeast across New Castle County. Two Auxiliary Interstate Highway routes are also located in the state. Interstate 495 (I-495) is an eastern bypass of Wilmington. Interstate 295 (I-295) is a bypass of Philadelphia which begins south of Wilmington. In addition to Interstate highways, there are six U.S. highways that serve Delaware: [[U.S. Route 9 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs9]], [[U.S. Route 13 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs13]], [[U.S. Route 40 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs40]], [[U.S. Route 113 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs113]], [[U.S. Route 202 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs202]], and [[U.S. Route 301 in Delaware|U.S.Template:Nbs301]]. There are also several state highways that cross the state of Delaware; a few of them include [[Delaware Route 1|DETemplate:Nbs1]], [[Delaware Route 9|DETemplate:Nbs9]], and [[Delaware Route 404|DETemplate:Nbs404]]. U.S.Template:Nbs13 and DETemplate:Nbs1 are primary north–south highways connecting Wilmington and Pennsylvania with Maryland, with DETemplate:Nbs1 serving as the main route between Wilmington and the Delaware beaches. DETemplate:Nbs9 is a north–south highway connecting Dover and Wilmington via a scenic route along the Delaware Bay. U.S.Template:Nbs40 is a primary east–west route, connecting Maryland with New Jersey. DETemplate:Nbs404 is another primary east–west highway connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland with the Delaware beaches. The state also operates three toll highways, the Delaware Turnpike, which is I-95, between Maryland and New Castle; the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, which is DETemplate:Nbs1, between Wilmington and Dover; and the U.S. 301 toll road between the Maryland border and DETemplate:Nbs1 in New Castle County.

A bicycle route, Delaware Bicycle Route 1, spans the north–south length of the state from the Maryland border in Fenwick Island to the Pennsylvania border north of Montchanin. It is the first of several signed bike routes planned in Delaware.[122]

Delaware has about 1,450 bridges, 95 percent of which are under the supervision of DelDOT. About 30 percent of all Delaware bridges were built before 1950, and about 60 percent of the number are included in the National Bridge Inventory. Some bridges not under DelDOT supervision includes the four bridges on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is under the bi-state Delaware River and Bay Authority.

It has been noted that the tar and chip composition of secondary roads in Sussex County makes them more prone to deterioration than are the asphalt roadways in almost the rest of the state.[123] Among these roads, Sussex (county road) 236 is among the most problematic.[123]

Ferries[]

MV Delaware DEE1

Cape May–Lewes Ferry

Three ferries operate in the state of Delaware:

  • Cape May–Lewes Ferry crosses the mouth of Delaware Bay between Lewes, Delaware, and Cape May, New Jersey.
  • Woodland Ferry (a cable ferry) crosses the Nanticoke River southwest of Seaford.
  • Forts Ferry Crossing connects Delaware City with Fort Delaware and Fort Mott, New Jersey.

Rail and bus[]

Template:Delaware rail network

Wilmington Station from parking garage, July 2014

Wilmington Station

Amtrak has two stations in Delaware along the Northeast Corridor; the relatively quiet Newark Rail Station in Newark, and the busier Wilmington Rail Station in Wilmington. The Northeast Corridor is also served by SEPTA's Wilmington/Newark Line of Regional Rail, which serves Claymont, Wilmington, Churchmans Crossing, and Newark.

Two Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX, provide freight rail service in northern New Castle County. Norfolk Southern provides freight service along the Northeast Corridor and to industrial areas in Edgemoor, New Castle, and Delaware City. CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision passes through northern New Castle County parallel to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Multiple short-line railroads provide freight service in Delaware. The Delmarva Central Railroad operates the most trackage of the short-line railroads, running from an interchange with Norfolk Southern in Porter south through Dover, Harrington, and Seaford to Delmar, with another line running from Harrington to Frankford and branches from Ellendale to Milton and from Georgetown to Gravel Hill. The Delmarva Central Railroad connects with the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, which serves local customers in Sussex County.[124] CSX connects with the freight/heritage operation, the Wilmington and Western Railroad, based in Wilmington and the East Penn Railroad, which operates a line from Wilmington to Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

The last north–south passenger trains through the main part of Delaware was the Pennsylvania Railroad's local Wilmington-Delmar train in 1965.[125][126] This was a successor to the Del-Mar-Va Express and Cavalier, which had run from Philadelphia through the state's interior, to the end of the Delmarva Peninsula until the mid-1950s.[127][128]

The DART First State public transportation system was named "Most Outstanding Public Transportation System" in 2003 by the American Public Transportation Association. Coverage of the system is broad within northern New Castle County with close association to major highways in Kent and Sussex counties. The system includes bus, subsidized passenger rail operated by Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA, and subsidized taxi and paratransit modes. The paratransit system, consisting of a statewide door-to-door bus service for the elderly and disabled, has been described by a Delaware state report as "the most generous paratransit system in the United States".[120] As of 2012, fees for the paratransit service have not changed since 1988.[120]

Air[]

As of 2016, there is no scheduled air service from any Delaware airport, as has been the case in various years since 1991. Various airlines had served Wilmington Airport, the latest departure being Frontier Airlines in April 2015.[129]

Delaware is centrally situated in the Northeast megalopolis region of cities along I-95. Therefore, Delaware commercial airline passengers most frequently use Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for domestic and international transit. Residents of Sussex County will also use Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY), as it is located less than 10 miles (16 km) from the Delaware border. Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) are also within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of New Castle County.

Other general aviation airports in Delaware include Summit Airport near Middletown, Delaware Airpark near Cheswold, and Delaware Coastal Airport near Georgetown.

Dover Air Force Base, one of the largest in the country, is home to the 436th Airlift Wing and the 512th Airlift Wing. In addition to its other responsibilities in the Air Mobility Command, it serves as the entry point and mortuary for U.S. military personnel (and some civilians) who die overseas.

Law and government[]

Delaware's fourth and current constitution, adopted in 1897, provides for executive, judicial and legislative branches.[130]

Legislative branch[]

Delaware State Capitol

The Delaware General Assembly meets in the Legislative Hall in Dover.

The Delaware General Assembly consists of a House of Representatives with 41 members and a Senate with 21 members. It sits in Dover, the state capital. Representatives are elected to two-year terms, while senators are elected to four-year terms. The Senate confirms judicial and other nominees appointed by the governor.

Delaware's U.S. Senators are Tom Carper (Democrat) and Chris Coons (Democrat). Delaware's single U.S. Representative is Lisa Blunt Rochester (Democrat).

Judicial branch[]

The Delaware Constitution establishes a number of courts:

  • The Delaware Supreme Court is the state's highest court.
  • The Delaware Superior Court is the state's trial court of general jurisdiction.
  • The Delaware Court of Chancery deals primarily in corporate disputes.
  • The Family Court handles domestic and custody matters.
  • The Delaware Court of Common Pleas has jurisdiction over a limited class of civil and criminal matters.

Minor non-constitutional courts include the Justice of the Peace Courts and Aldermen's Courts.

Significantly, Delaware has one of the few remaining Courts of Chancery in the nation, which has jurisdiction over equity cases, the vast majority of which are corporate disputes, many relating to mergers and acquisitions. The Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court have developed a worldwide reputation for rendering concise opinions concerning corporate law which generally (but not always) grant broad discretion to corporate boards of directors and officers. In addition, the Delaware General Corporation Law, which forms the basis of the Courts' opinions, is widely regarded as giving great flexibility to corporations to manage their affairs. For these reasons, Delaware is considered to have the most business-friendly legal system in the United States; therefore a great number of companies are incorporated in Delaware, including 60% of the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[131]

Delaware was the last U.S. state to use judicial corporal punishment, in 1952.[132]

Executive branch[]

The executive branch is headed by the Governor of Delaware. The present governor is John Carney (Democrat), who took office January 17, 2017. The lieutenant governor is Bethany Hall-Long. The governor presents a "State of the State" speech to a joint session of the Delaware legislature annually.[133]

Counties[]

Delaware is subdivided into three counties; from north to south they are New Castle, Kent and Sussex. This is the fewest among all states. Each county elects its own legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as County Council, and in Kent County as Levy Court), which deal primarily in zoning and development issues. Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. The counties were historically divided into hundreds, which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s, but now serve no administrative role, their only current official legal use being in real estate title descriptions.[134]

Politics[]

Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped)

Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States and a U.S. senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009.

United States presidential election results for Delaware[135]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 200,603 39.77% 296,268 58.74% 7,475 1.48%
2016 185,127 41.71% 235,603 53.09% 23,084 5.20%
2012 165,484 39.98% 242,584 58.61% 5,853 1.41%
2008 152,374 36.93% 255,459 61.91% 4,783 1.16%
2004 171,660 45.74% 200,152 53.34% 3,458 0.92%
2000 137,288 41.90% 180,068 54.96% 10,266 3.13%
1996 99,062 36.54% 140,355 51.78% 31,667 11.68%
1992 102,313 35.31% 126,054 43.51% 61,368 21.18%
1988 139,639 55.88% 108,647 43.48% 1,605 0.64%
1984 152,190 59.78% 101,656 39.93% 726 0.29%
1980 111,252 47.21% 105,754 44.87% 18,662 7.92%
1976 109,831 46.57% 122,596 51.98% 3,407 1.44%
1972 140,357 59.60% 92,283 39.18% 2,876 1.22%
1968 96,714 45.12% 89,194 41.61% 28,459 13.28%
1964 78,078 38.78% 122,704 60.95% 538 0.27%
1960 96,373 49.00% 99,590 50.63% 720 0.37%
1956 98,057 55.09% 79,421 44.62% 510 0.29%
1952 90,059 51.75% 83,315 47.88% 651 0.37%
1948 69,588 50.04% 67,813 48.76% 1,672 1.20%
1944 56,747 45.27% 68,166 54.38% 448 0.36%
1940 61,440 45.05% 74,599 54.70% 335 0.25%
1936 57,236 44.85% 69,702 54.62% 665 0.52%
1932 57,073 50.55% 54,319 48.11% 1,509 1.34%
1928 68,860 65.03% 36,643 34.60% 388 0.37%
1924 52,441 57.70% 33,445 36.80% 4,999 5.50%
1920 52,858 55.71% 39,911 42.07% 2,106 2.22%
1916 26,011 50.20% 24,753 47.78% 1,046 2.02%
1912 15,998 32.85% 22,631 46.48% 10,065 20.67%
1908 25,014 52.10% 22,055 45.94% 938 1.95%
1904 23,705 54.05% 19,347 44.11% 804 1.83%
1900 22,535 53.67% 18,852 44.90% 602 1.43%
1896 20,450 53.18% 16,574 43.10% 1,432 3.72%
1892 18,077 48.55% 18,581 49.90% 577 1.55%
1888 12,950 43.51% 16,414 55.15% 400 1.34%
1884 12,953 43.20% 16,957 56.55% 74 0.25%
1880 14,148 48.03% 15,181 51.53% 129 0.44%
1876 10,752 44.55% 13,381 55.45% 0 0.00%
1872 11,129 51.00% 10,205 46.76% 488 2.24%
1868 7,614 41.00% 10,957 59.00% 0 0.00%
1864 8,155 48.19% 8,767 51.81% 0 0.00%
1860 3,822 23.72% 1,066 6.61% 11,227 69.67%
1856 310 2.12% 8,004 54.83% 6,284 43.05%
1852 6,293 49.66% 6,318 49.85% 62 0.49%
1848 6,440 51.80% 5,910 47.54% 82 0.66%
1844 6,271 51.20% 5,970 48.75% 6 0.05%
1840 5,967 54.99% 4,872 44.89% 13 0.12%
1836 4,736 53.24% 4,154 46.70% 5 0.06%



The Democratic Party holds a plurality of registrations in Delaware. Currently, Democrats hold all positions of authority in Delaware, as well as majorities in the state Senate and House. The Democrats have held the governorship since 1993, having won the last seven gubernatorial elections. Democrats presently hold all the nine statewide elected offices, while the Republicans last won any statewide offices in 2014, State Auditor and State Treasurer.

During the First and Second Party Systems, Delaware was a stronghold for the Federalist and Whig Parties, respectively. After a relatively brief adherence to the Democratic Solid South following the US Civil War, Delaware became a Republican-leaning state from 1896 through 1948, voting for losing Republicans Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, Herbert Hoover in 1932, and Thomas Dewey in 1948.

During the second half of the 20th century, Delaware was a bellwether state, voting for the winner of every presidential election from 1952 through 1996. Delaware's bellwether status came to an end when Delaware voted for Al Gore in 2000 by 13%. Subsequent elections have continued to demonstrate Delaware's current strong Democratic lean: John Kerry carried the First State by 8% in 2004; Barack Obama carried it by 25% and by 19% in his two elections of 2008 and 2012; and Hillary Clinton carried it by 11% as she lost the Electoral College in 2016. In 2020, Delaware native (and Barack Obama's former Vice President and running mate) Joe Biden headed the Democratic ticket; he carried his home state by just shy of 19% en route to a national 4.5% win.[136]

The dominant factor in Delaware's political shift has been the strong Democratic trend in heavily urbanized New Castle County, home to 55% of Delaware's population. New Castle County has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988, and has given Democrats over 60% of its vote in every election from 2004 on. In 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2016, the Republican presidential candidate carried both Kent and Sussex but lost by double digits each time in New Castle County, which was a large enough margin to tip the state to the Democrats. New Castle County also elects a substantial majority of the state legislature; 27 of the 41 state house districts and 14 of the 21 state senate districts are based in New Castle County.

In a 2020 study, Delaware was ranked as the 18th hardest state for citizens to vote in.[137]

Freedom of information[]

Each of the 50 states of the United States has passed some form of freedom of information legislation, which provides a mechanism for the general public to request information of the government.[138] In 2011 Delaware passed legislation placing a 15 business day time limit on addressing freedom-of-information requests, to either produce information or an explanation of why such information would take longer than this time to produce.[139]

Taxation[]

Tax is collected by the Delaware Division of Revenue.[140]

Delaware has six different income tax brackets, ranging from 2.2% to 5.95%. The state does not assess sales tax on consumers. The state does, however, impose a tax on the gross receipts of most businesses. Business and occupational license tax rates range from 0.096% to 1.92%, depending on the category of business activity.

Delaware does not assess a state-level tax on real or personal property. Real estate is subject to county property taxes, school district property taxes, vocational school district taxes, and, if located within an incorporated area, municipal property taxes.

Gambling provides significant revenue to the state. For instance, the casino at Delaware Park Racetrack provided more than $100Template:Nbsmillion to the state in 2010.[141]

In June 2018, Delaware became the first U.S. state to legalize sports betting following the Supreme Court ruling to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).[142]

Voter registration[]

Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 2022[143]
Party Number of voters Percentage
style="background-color:#3333FF;" width=10px | Democratic 359,824 47.62%
style="background-color:#FF3333;" width=10px | Republican 208,102 27.54%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;" width=10px | Unaffiliated 169,472 22.43%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;" width=10px | Independent Party of Delaware 9,898 1.31%
style="background-color:#FFCC00;" width=10px | Libertarian 2,182 0.29%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;" width=10px | Non-partisan 1,162 0.15%
style="background-color:#FF3333;" width=10px | Conservative 764 0.10%
style="background-color:#0BDA51;" width=10px | Green 735 0.10%
style="background-color:#3333FF;" width=10px | Liberal 682 0.09%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;" width=10px | Others 615 0.08%
style="background-color:Template:American Delta Party/meta/color;" width=10px | American Delta Party 588 0.08%
style="background-color:Template:American Independent Party/meta/color;" width=10px | American Independent Party 577 0.08%
style="background-color:Template:Working Families Party/meta/color;" width=10px | Working Families Party 329 0.04%
style="background-color:#A356DE;" width=10px | Constitution 266 0.04%
style="background-color:Template:Socialist Workers Party (United States)/meta/color;" width=10px | Socialist Workers Party 131 0.02%
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;" width=10px | Blue Enigma Party 90 0.01%
style="background-color:Template:Natural Law Party (United States)/meta/color;" width=10px | Natural Law Party 78 0.01%
style="background-color:Template:Reform Party of the United States of America/meta/color;" width=10px | Reform 46 0.01%
style="background-color:#FFCC00;" width=10px | Mandalorians of Delaware 19 0.00%
Total 755,560 100%

Culture and entertainment[]

Festivals[]

Sports[]

Professional teams
Team Sport League
Delaware Black Foxes Rugby USA Rugby League
Delaware Blue Coats Basketball NBA G League
Delaware Thunder Hockey Federal Prospects Hockey League
Diamond State Roller Girls Roller derby Women's Flat Track Derby Association
Wilmington Blue Rocks Baseball High-A East
2017 Apache Warrior 400 from turn 1

NASCAR racing at Dover Motor Speedway

As Delaware has no franchises in the major American professional sports leagues, many Delawareans follow either Philadelphia or Baltimore teams. In the WNBA, the Washington Mystics enjoy a major following due to the presence of Wilmington native and University of Delaware product Elena Delle Donne. The University of Delaware's football team has a large following throughout the state, with the Delaware State University and Wesley College teams also enjoying a smaller degree of support.

Delaware is home to Dover Motor Speedway and Bally's Dover. Dover Motor Speedway, also known as the Monster Mile, is one of only 10 tracks in the nation to have hosted 100 or more NASCAR Cup Series races. Bally's Dover is a popular harness racing facility. It is the only co-located horse- and car-racing facility in the nation, with the Bally's Dover track located inside the Dover Motor Speedway track.

Delaware is represented in rugby by the Delaware Black Foxes, a 2015 expansion club.

Delaware has been home to professional wrestling outfit Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). CZW has been affiliated with the annual Tournament of Death and ECWA with its annual [[ECWA Super 8 Tournament|SuperTemplate:Nbs8 Tournament]].

Delaware's official state sport is bicycling.[144]

Sister state[]

Delaware's sister state in Japan is Miyagi Prefecture.[145]

Delawareans[]

Prominent Delawareans include the du Pont family of politicians and businesspersons and the Biden family among whom Joe Biden is notable as the 46th and current president of the United States.

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Because of surveying errors, the actual line is several compound arcs with centers at different points in New Castle.

References[]

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  5. ^ Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
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Bibliography[]

  • Kolchin, Peter (1994), American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill & Wang 

External links[]

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History[]

General[]

First List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
Ratified Constitution on December 7, 1787 (1st)
Succeeded by
Pennsylvania

Template:Southern United States Template:Northeast US Template:Thirteen Colonies


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Delaware. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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