Photo: Levelhead at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Seaford has higher unemployment (13.1%) than 98% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Seaford D; getting around on foot earns it A−. 6% of workers work from home (Delaware 15%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Seaford apart
Seaford draws workers from far and wide
The 5,874 jobs in Seaford are filled from a wide area. Seaford’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 78% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Seaford is where the jobs are
Seaford has 5,874 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Seaford’s commute
The biggest draw, Georgetown, gets only 7% of working residents, and 56% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Seaford residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Seaford’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seaford is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #36 of 37 in Delaware. Job access by car holds Seaford’s grade up (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Seaford could be anywhere from D to C.
Where Seaford’s workforce comes from
Where Seaford clocks in
7% 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.
Seaford on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,959 residents head out to work, 536 work right here, and 5,338 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Seaford on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.7 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.
What work there is in Seaford: 5,874 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Seaford, 2013 → 2023: 5,814 → 5,874. 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 Seaford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes each way for Seaford’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seaford workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,450 commuters (the 6% 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 Seaford’s workers travel
About 19% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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 Seaford, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seaford is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #16 of 37 in Delaware. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.9% across Delaware.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,681 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 46% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 8.8% of Seaford households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Seaford’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Seaford compares with U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Pike Creek DE | 7,129 | $140K | 1.3% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 291 | North Star DE | 7,834 | $151K | 3.5% | 3.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | Wilmington Manor DE | 8,214 | $78K | 11.6% | 2.7% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,732 | Carbondale PA | 8,731 | $48K | 26.4% | 8.4% | 15% | D |
| 2,733 | Thermalito CA | 6,720 | $55K | 20.4% | 9.9% | 3% | D |
| 2,734 | Seaford DE | 9,165 | $54K | 18.8% | 13.1% | 15% | D |
| 2,735 | Independence KS | 8,193 | $51K | 18.4% | 7.0% | 39% | D |
| 2,736 | Anthony NM | 8,900 | $38K | 32.9% | 11.6% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,886 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Seaford, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
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 Seaford: questions
What is the median household income in Seaford?
$54,016 (±$11,620) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seaford?
18.8%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seaford?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Seaford work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Georgetown (7%, 12 mi), Hurlock (4%, 14 mi), Milford (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Seaford walkable?
Seaford is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seaford without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 46% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Seaford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seaford
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.