Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,962.
The typical home is worth about , years of the Dover metro’s $74K median household income. Overall it grades C+, ranked 23rd of 37 in Delaware. The median household earns $82K. Dover Base Housing’s average trip to work is 12 minutes, below both the Delaware town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). No town in Delaware scores lower than Dover Base Housing on cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 73% of U.S. towns.
Where Dover Base Housing beats most towns.
3,450 counted in 2010 and 2,810 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Delaware), ordered by how far Dover Base Housing is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 8,106 in 1970, 2,810 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1980 and 5 maps from 1936 on.
Explore the history →Dover Base Housing is unincorporated, so Kent County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Dover Base Housing.
Dover Base Housing has less heart disease than most of Delaware, has commutes shorter than most of Delaware and is mostly renters.
The trail density in Dover Base Housing is 5.5 miles per square mile. Of the 34 Delaware towns we compare, none has a lower share of conserved land than Dover Base Housing. 4.4 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Dover Base Housing | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 5.5 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 16% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Liberty Park | 0.1 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Caesar Rodney School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major George S. Welch Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 261 | A− |
| Dover Air Force Base Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 98 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within DE on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 595 working residents takes 11.7 minutes, against 26 across Delaware.
Most working residents leave Dover Base Housing for work: only 1% work in town. 2.2% of Dover Base Housing residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Dover Base Housing grew to 223 in 2023, 147 more than in 2013.
| Dover Base Housing | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.2% | 8.3% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 5.2% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Delaware is heart disease: 2.1% of its 1,802 adults have heart disease, against 6.9% statewide.
5.5% of adults have diabetes in Dover Base Housing. No town among the 37 in Delaware we compare has a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Dover Base Housing. 21% of adults have high blood pressure in Dover Base Housing.
| Dover Base Housing | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 5.5% | 13% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Dover Base Housing | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 2.1% | 6.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 2.9% | 9.1% |
| More binge drinkers | 19.3% | 14.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Dover Base Housing has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 27° and about 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 53% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Dover Base Housing
College town 19 of every 100 Dover Base Housing residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Delaware.
Where Dover Base Housing’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
US Air Force base near Dover, Delaware
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB (IATA: DOV, ICAO: KDOV, FAA LID: DOV) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located 2 mi (3.2 km) southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing (436th AW) serves as the host wing and operates a major Department of Defense air freight terminal. The AMC-gained 512th Airlift Wing (512th AW) of the Air Force Reserve Command is co-located at the base. Together the two wings fly a fleet of C-5M Super Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Construction began in March 1941 and the facility opened on December 17, 1941, ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor; it was converted to …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Dover Base Housing.
| Town | DE rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover Base Housing | #23 | C+ | D− | — | B+ | B+ |
| Dover | #37 | D | C | D− | C+ | C− |
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | #13 | B+ | C | — | B+ | B |
Dover Base Housing and Rising Sun-Lebanon report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Dover Base Housing with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dover Base Housing grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #23 of 37 in Delaware. It grades B+ for health and B+ for schools, and has the most trail per square mile in the state. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.