Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. Its strongest subject is incomes (A−): the median household earns $114K. With a B+ overall, Rising Sun-Lebanon sits 13th of 37 in Delaware. That leaves it better than 65% of U.S. towns. The catch is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $390K, 5.2 years of the Dover metro’s $74K median household income. On the outdoors, just 3 of Delaware’s 54 towns do worse. 32% of residents are under 18 locally, where Delaware’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 22%. The rest of its grades are middling: B for health, B for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · health, CDC PLACES · FEMA National Risk Index · USGS PAD-US.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Delaware), ordered by how far Rising Sun-Lebanon is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,176 in 1980, 4,104 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2022 and 4 maps from 1931 on.
Explore the history →3,391 counted in 2010 and 4,104 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Ordered by what stands out in Rising Sun-Lebanon.
Rising Sun-Lebanon sends most of its workers to Dover and beyond and owes part of its health edge to its incomes.
Rising Sun-Lebanon has 464 jobs for its 1,635 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here grew from 322 in 2013 to 464.
Just 2% of Rising Sun-Lebanon’s working residents have a job in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in the town rose by 142, to 464. For Rising Sun-Lebanon, the average trip to work is 29 minutes. Half of commuters travel less than 13 miles.
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | Typical Delaware town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $114,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.1% | 5.2% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its three schools are below. The largest public high school is John S. Charlton School, with 424 students. The public schools here belong to the Caesar Rodney School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| F. Niel Postlethwait Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 647 | B+ |
| John S. Charlton SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 424 | D |
| Allen Frear Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades 1–5 | Grades 1–5 | 504 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within DE on state tests and graduation
College graduates make up 36% of adults 25 and older, against 36% across Delaware. Children under 18 are 32% of residents (21% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 29% of residents (38% statewide). Among 37 Delaware towns, just 2 have a higher share of children under 18 than Rising Sun-Lebanon. 13% of residents are 65 or older here.
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | Typical Delaware town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 32% | 20% | 22% |
| Median age | 31.9 years | 40.8 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 36% | 34% | 29% |
46% women, 54% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±7.9 points. Across Delaware, 51.6% of residents are women.
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | DE | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 22.5% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.2% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.7% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 21.7% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.9% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 6.3% | 11.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.2% | 14% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.2% | 12.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.1% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 13.4% | 8.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.1% | 28.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.4% | 18.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 2.9% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.6% | 20.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.6% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,200, single groups can be off by several points
Parkland in Rising Sun-Lebanon adds up to 233 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ted Harvey Conservation Area - Roberts Tract | — | 233 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 26° and about 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA puts 45% of Rising Sun-Lebanon’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 22% to cold waves. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in just over three fifths of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 6,676 U.S. towns with household incomes like Rising Sun-Lebanon’s, it is less healthy than 73%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Rising Sun-Lebanon: just over one in ten adults report frequent physical distress. Of 32 CDC measures, Rising Sun-Lebanon beats the Delaware average on 9 and trails it on 1. Two figures for adults here: 39% sleep under 7 hours, 35% feel lonely.
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | Typical Delaware town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rising Sun-Lebanon | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.9% | 6.9% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9.5% | 12.7% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 74.7% | 78.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
For Rising Sun-Lebanon, the rent at the middle of the market is $1,755 a month. The share of households in Rising Sun-Lebanon who are owner-occupiers is 68%.
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | Typical Delaware town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,755 a month | $1,424 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 68% | 70% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Rising Sun-Lebanon 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.
Where Rising Sun-Lebanon’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 within 15 miles of the center of Rising Sun-Lebanon
About 2 of every 100 Rising Sun-Lebanon residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Delaware.
Census-designated place in Delaware, United States
Rising Sun-Lebanon 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, Rising Sun-Lebanon had a population of 4,104.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Rising Sun-Lebanon.
| Town | DE rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rising Sun-Lebanon | #13 | B+ | C | — | B+ | B |
| Highland Acres | #12 | B+ | B− | — | B+ | C |
| Dover Base Housing | #23 | C+ | D− | — | B+ | B+ |
Rising Sun-Lebanon, Highland Acres and Dover Base Housing report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Rising Sun-Lebanon with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Rising Sun-Lebanon grades B+ overall, better than 65% of U.S. towns and #13 of 37 in Delaware. It grades B for health and B+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $390,000, 4% 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 C.
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