Highland Acres has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Household incomes here are higher than in 79% of U.S. towns. There are 391 jobs in Highland Acres, against 1,425 working residents. For jobs and income Highland Acres is better than 72% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Highland Acres, in brief
The better-paid jobs are outside Highland Acres
57% of Highland Acres residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 26% of the jobs based in Highland Acres pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Highland Acres pay little
37% of the jobs based in Highland Acres pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 31% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Highland Acres and Dover trade workers both ways
Dover is the top workplace for Highland Acres residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Highland Acres come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Highland Acres is a place people come home to
There are 391 jobs based in Highland Acres, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Highland Acres has about 2,700 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
How Highland Acres earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Highland Acres’ grade up ($102,356, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highland Acres could be anywhere from C+ to A+.
Jobs in Highland Acres: what the 391 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland Acres, 2013 → 2023: 219 → 391. 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 Highland Acres’s own residents hold wherever they work.
28% of working residents work in Dover
Where Highland Acres clocks in
28% of workers
4% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Highland Acres
On a workday 1,399 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 365 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Highland Acres on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer 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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Highland Acres
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland Acres workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,425 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 Highland Acres 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.
In Highland Acres, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,564 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 2.7% of Highland Acres households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Highland Acres’ commuters take a bus or train.
Highland Acres next to U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100: 1,191st of 4,430 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 404 | Clayton DE | 4,527 | $107K | 5.3% | 1.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 420 | Greenville DE | 3,713 | $143K | 4.0% | 4.2% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 511 | Townsend DE | 2,985 | $153K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,189 | Dayton WI | 2,608 | $92K | 5.1% | 2.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,190 | Farmington WI | 3,501 | $83K | 6.5% | 0.6% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,191 | Highland Acres DE | 3,752 | $102K | 6.2% | 4.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,192 | Masonville KY | 2,887 | $83K | 11.1% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,193 | Mountain Home NC | 3,437 | $83K | 11.9% | 0.7% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Highland Acres, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
Highland Acres and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Camden (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Highland Acres workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Acres | – | B+ | A | 22 min | $102,356 |
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | under 2% | A− | B | 29 min | $113,529 |
| Kent Acres | under 2% | B− | A− | 19 min | $91,524 |
| Camden | 5% | B+ | B+ | 20 min | $63,267 |
| Rodney Village | under 2% | C− | A+ | 20 min | $43,558 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Highland Acres’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 Highland Acres: questions
What is the median household income in Highland Acres?
$102,356 (±$22,614) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland Acres?
6.2%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland Acres?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland Acres work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dover (28%, 3 mi), Camden (5%, 2 mi), Wilmington (4%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Highland Acres walkable?
Highland Acres is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highland Acres without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland Acres, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland Acres
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.