Photo: Ataraxy22 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in New Castle (1.3%) than in 92% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 22% of workers, where Delaware as a whole has 15%. New Castle grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. Only 8% work in New Castle itself; outside it, Wilmington draws the most (12%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
New Castle and work: the main findings
New Castle fills up on a workday
New Castle has 14,538 jobs, 5.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 18,000 people are in town, 3 times the 5,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
83% of the jobs in New Castle are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
New Castle has added jobs fast
Jobs based in New Castle went from 7,733 in 2013 to 14,538 in 2023, +88%. The jobs ↓
New Castle draws workers from far and wide
The 14,538 jobs in New Castle are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 28%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Most New Castle residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How New Castle earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Castle is better than 93% of U.S. towns, #4 of 37 in Delaware. Unemployment is its strongest input; household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($89,205, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Castle could be anywhere from A− to A+.
In and out of New Castle on a workday
On a workday 2,327 residents head out to work, 191 work right here, and 14,347 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in New Castle on a workday afternoon, 210% more than live here.
5.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Inside New Castle’s 14,538 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Castle, 2013 → 2023: 7,733 → 14,538. 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 New Castle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where New Castle’s workers come from
Where New Castle clocks in
12% of workers
3% 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.
New Castle’s commute, mile by mile
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.
The trip to work from New Castle: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Castle workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,413 commuters (the 22% 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.
New Castle is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Castle is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #7 of 37 in Delaware. Both inputs place New Castle 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 3,078 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, 60% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 9.3% of New Castle households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of New Castle’s commuters take a bus or train.
New Castle is 292nd of 3,476 U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Pike Creek DE | 7,129 | $140K | 1.3% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 290 | Dacono CO | 6,844 | $105K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 2% | A |
| 291 | Hunters Creek Village TX | 4,498 | $250K | 2.8% | 5.5% | 2% | A |
| 292 | New Castle DE | 5,726 | $89K | 4.7% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| 293 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| 294 | Royalton Township MI | 5,198 | $129K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 391 | Clayton DE | 4,527 | $107K | 5.3% | 1.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 630 | Rising Sun-Lebanon DE | 4,163 | $114K | 8.0% | 0.9% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | 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 New Castle, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
Work in the towns next to New Castle
The biggest share goes to Wilmington Manor (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Castle workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle | – | A | A | 23 min | $89,205 |
| Wilmington Manor | 1% | B+ | A | 22 min | $78,078 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of New Castle’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 New Castle: questions
What is the median household income in New Castle?
$89,205 (±$11,376) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Castle?
4.7%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Castle?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Castle work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilmington (12%, 5 mi), Philadelphia (3%, 33 mi), Dover (3%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is New Castle walkable?
New Castle is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Castle without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 60% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Castle, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Castle
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.