Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 3,752 residents in Delaware.
Overall, Highland Acres earns a B+: better than nearly two thirds of U.S. towns, and 12th of 37 in Delaware. Walkability is its strong suit: it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. It also does well on incomes: the median household earns $102K. What holds it back is health: residents are less healthy than 66% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. A typical home there costs about $306K, 4.1 years of the Dover metro’s $74K median household income. Only 2 of Delaware’s 54 towns score lower on history.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Highland Acres beats most towns.
Where Highland Acres’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Delaware), ordered by how far Highland Acres is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,471 in 1970, 3,492 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2018 and 4 maps from 1930 on.
Explore the history →Highland Acres 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 Highland Acres.
Highland Acres sends most of its workers to Dover and beyond, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
The concentration of trails for Highland Acres comes to 0.9 miles per square mile, above both Delaware’s towns (0.4) and U.S. towns (0.4). Trails run 1.3 miles in 1 park or preserve. One park or preserve covers 11 acres in the town.
| Highland Acres | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 8% | 16% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tibury Park | 0.5 mi | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Highland Acres has 391 jobs for its 1,425 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Highland Acres’ mean commuting time stands at 22 minutes. Most people who work leave Highland Acres to do it: just 2% work in town. Since 2013, Highland Acres has added 172 jobs, to 391 in 2023. In Highland Acres, 6.2% of residents live below the poverty line, below both the Delaware town median (8.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Highland Acres | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $102,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.9% | 15% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.8% | 5.2% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 8,224 U.S. towns with household incomes like Highland Acres’s, it is less healthy than 90%, so it trails even them.
Only 3 of the 37 Delaware towns we compare have a higher share of adults who have diabetes than Highland Acres. In Highland Acres, just over one in ten adults binge drink. This Delaware town does better than the Delaware average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 8.
| Highland Acres | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 37% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 12% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Highland Acres | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 11.9% | 14.2% |
| More adults seeing a dentist | 67.3% | 63.1% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.6% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Highland Acres has chilly winters and warm summers. Summer afternoons peak near 87° in July, and January nights bottom out around 26°; snowfall runs to about 13 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Highland Acres: 37% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Adults 35 to 64 are nearly a third of residents (38% statewide); people 65 and older are 25% of residents (21% statewide). In Highland Acres, the age of the median resident is 45.1 years.
| Highland Acres | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.1 years | 40 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 34% | 29% |
Somewhere between 32% and 68% women
The Census survey reached too few of Highland Acres’ residents to say more: its margin here is ±18 points. Across Delaware, 51.6% of residents are women.
| Highland Acres | DE | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.9% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.9% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.1% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 7% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.7% | 11.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.7% | 14% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.5% | 12.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.3% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.8% | 8.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.5% | 28.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.6% | 18.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.7% | 20.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.6% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,800, single groups can be off by several points
The national flood insurance program has paid 2 claims in Highland Acres since 2016. On expected storm and flood damage, Highland Acres sits above 58% of U.S. communities. Expected losses in Highland Acres break down as 59% from inland flooding and 16% from cold waves.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just over four in five households own their home in Highland Acres. Highland Acres’ typical rent comes in at $1,583 a month.
| Highland Acres | Delaware towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,583 a month | $1,424 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Highland Acres
About 4 of every 100 Highland Acres residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Delaware.
Census-designated place in Delaware, United States
Highland Acres is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Highland Acres had a population of 3,492.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Highland Acres.
| Town | DE rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Acres | #12 | B+ | B− | — | B+ | C |
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | #13 | B+ | C | — | B+ | B |
| Kent Acres | — | — | C | — | B+ | C |
| Camden | #27 | C | C | D | B+ | B− |
| Rodney Village | — | — | B− | — | B+ | D |
Kent Acres and Rodney Village have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Highland Acres, Rising Sun-Lebanon, Kent Acres and Rodney Village report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Highland Acres with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Highland Acres grades B+ overall, better than 65% of U.S. towns and #12 of 37 in Delaware. It grades C for health and B+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $306,000, 24% below the Delaware typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.