BladesDE
A town of 1,372, settled in 1850. A typical home costs 3 years of the Seaford area’s $81K median household income.
Is Blades a good place to live?
The best of Blades’ subject grades is an A− for cost of living; the weakest is a C− for safety. Blades’ violent crime rate is 8 per 1,000 residents, above both the Delaware town median (3.5) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). Only 1 of Delaware’s 54 towns score higher on cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. Blades has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Blades stand out
Where Blades beats most towns.
1,372 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How Blades grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Delaware), ordered by how far Blades is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Blades: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Blades, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Blades.
More crime per resident in Blades than in 85% of U.S. towns
Blades’ property crime rate is 19.7 per 1,000 residents, against 17.8 in Delaware’s towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
On state tests, Blades’ schools trail 67% of Delaware districts
Its public schools are run by the Seaford School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blades Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–2 | Grades K–2 | 410 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within DE on state tests and graduation
Homes in Blades are worth about $244K, by Zillow’s estimate
The typical Blades home is worth about $244,000, down 3.8% in a year, 40% below the Delaware typical home. The median rent in Blades is $1,012 a month.
| Blades | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,012 a month | $1,438 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 68% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Blades’ workers commute out
Most working residents leave Blades for work: only 1% work in town. Jobs based in Blades fell to 112 in 2023, 185 fewer than in 2013. Blades’ median household income is $57,000.
| Blades | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $57,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.2% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 5.1% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Blades, expect four seasons and hot summers
Blades has chilly winters and warm summers. Among 38 Delaware towns, just 1 have a higher July high than Blades.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Blades is less healthy than 65% of U.S. towns
Blades beats the Delaware average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 14% of Blades adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Blades | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 8.5% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Blades | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 8.1% | 9.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 13.5% | 9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Blades | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.6% | 15% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Blades Public Park | 0.1 mi | 2 |
| 2. Blades Triangle Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Moderate risk in Blades, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 55% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Blades.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Blades
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Blades; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Blades residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Delaware.
99% of working residents leave Blades for work
Where Blades’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Blades
Town in Delaware, United States
Blades is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 1,179. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1850
- Area
- 0.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 20 ft
- Area code
- 302
Questions about Blades
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Blades, DE expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.