Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Dover draws 23,842 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Dover has 28,350 jobs; 14,619 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Dover are C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three work in Dover; the top destination outside it is Smyrna (4%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dover and work: the main findings
Dover draws workers from far and wide
The 28,350 jobs in Dover are filled from a wide area. Dover’s own residents hold 16% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Dover is where the jobs are
Dover has 28,350 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Dover averages 23 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (12 to 20 minutes). Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Dover’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dover is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #35 of 37 in Delaware. Job access by car holds Dover’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (8.0%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dover could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The daily trip into Dover
Where Dover clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who leaves Dover for work, and who comes in
On a workday 10,111 residents head out to work and 4,508 work right here.
About 54,000 people are in Dover on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Dover
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dover, 2013 → 2023: 31,200 → 28,350. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dover’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Dover: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dover workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,822 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Delaware: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Dover goes to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Dover
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dover is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #5 of 37 in Delaware. Both inputs place Dover near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 18,481 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 81% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 39% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 92% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.6% of Dover households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dover’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,101 U.S. towns of 28,000 to 55,000, Dover comes 986th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 313 | Newark DE | 30,359 | $77K | 27.7% | 6.7% | 11% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 984 | San Juan TX | 37,868 | $57K | 22.4% | 7.4% | 5% | C |
| 985 | Weslaco TX | 44,203 | $60K | 23.2% | 7.1% | 26% | C− |
| 986 | Dover DE | 40,592 | $60K | 15.0% | 8.0% | 31% | C− |
| 987 | Newburgh NY | 28,059 | $57K | 24.3% | 6.1% | 13% | C− |
| 988 | City of Orange Township NJ | 35,642 | $53K | 21.9% | 14.4% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,101 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Dover, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
How Dover compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dover workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | – | C− | A | 23 min | $60,199 |
| Kent Acres | under 1% | B− | A− | 19 min | $91,524 |
| Rodney Village | under 1% | C− | A+ | 20 min | $43,558 |
| Dover Base Housing | under 1% | A− | C | 12 min | $82,161 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dover’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Dover: questions
What is the median household income in Dover?
$60,199 (±$4,412) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dover?
15.0%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dover?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dover work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Smyrna (4%, 10 mi), Wilmington (4%, 40 mi), Milford (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dover walkable?
Dover is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dover without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 39% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dover, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dover
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.