Delaware

How Delaware ranks among the states

Delaware is the 8th most distressed of the 50 states and D.C., though its typical household income is the 14th highest (is Delaware poor?). Jobs push the score up most: in August 2026, Delaware’s unemployment rate was tied for 9th highest among the states. Bankruptcy is the surprise. The State Distress Index counts every case filed in a state’s federal bankruptcy court, and in 2025 Delaware had a larger share of business cases than any other state (why so many). Count household filings alone and Delaware’s rate was below the nation’s. Had the score used household filings for every state, we calculate that Delaware would rank 11th instead of 8th, still in the more distressed half. That calculation has a limit: the court’s figures don’t say where each business is based, so we can’t tell how many of those cases came from out-of-state companies and how many from Delaware’s own.

Which way it’s heading

Why so many bankruptcy cases are filed in Delaware

Many of them are companies. In 2025, 812 of the 2,331 cases filed in Delaware’s federal bankruptcy court were business cases, or 34.8%, against 4.3% nationwide (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table F-2). That’s the highest share of any state, nearly twice the next highest, D.C.’s 18.6%. Federal law lets a business file where it is domiciled, has its main place of business or assets, or has a related company with an open case (28 U.S.C. § 1408). By the state’s count, 66.7% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware (Delaware Division of Corporations). The court’s table doesn’t record where each business is based, so we can’t say how many of Delaware’s cases came from companies headquartered elsewhere.

Is Delaware expensive to live in?

For housing, about average: rent takes a slightly smaller share of a typical income in Delaware than nationwide. The median rent was $1,401 a month from 2020 to 2024, close to the U.S. median of $1,413, while Delaware’s household incomes run above the U.S. median (U.S. Census Bureau). So the typical rent takes 19.2% of the typical household’s income, against 20.8% nationwide (our calculation). We don’t measure the prices of groceries, electricity or other goods, so we can’t rank Delaware’s overall cost of living.

How is Delaware’s economy doing? Jobs and unemployment

Jobs are Delaware’s weak spot. Its unemployment rate was 4.7% in August 2026, down from 5.0% a year earlier but above the U.S. rate of 4.1%, and tied for 9th highest among the 50 states and D.C. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Household incomes are stronger: the typical household earns more than the U.S. median (see income).

To file an unemployment claim, go to Delaware’s Division of Unemployment Insurance.

Is Delaware poor?

No. In 2024, 10.1% of Delawareans lived below the poverty line, under the U.S. rate of 12.1%. The typical household earned $87,510, the 14th highest of the 50 states and D.C. (U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). Income per person ranks lower, 29th highest (see jobs and income).

What changed in Delaware in the past year

1. Oct. 12, 2026

   Refunds for some marketplace health plan buyers

   People who paid full price for a 2026 plan bought through HealthCare.gov are due a one-time federal refund of $500 per person, the Delaware Department of Insurance says, citing the White House. The department says as many as 7,200 Delawareans may qualify. No application is needed; the refunds are paid automatically.

   Delaware Department of Insurance, Oct. 12, 2026

2. Sept. 4, 2026

   Higher marketplace premiums approved for 2027

   The Delaware Department of Insurance approved average increases of 17.2% for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and 13.94% for AmeriHealth Caritas plans sold on the state’s marketplace for 2027. The department points to federal policy changes, among them the end of the larger federal premium tax credits. Sign-up opens Nov. 1 (see what to watch).

   Delaware Department of Insurance, Sept. 4, 2026

3. Aug. 7, 2026

   Split school-tax rates stay in New Castle County

   House Bill 462 lets school districts in New Castle County keep one school-tax rate for residential property and a separate rate, up to 1.85 times as high, for nonresidential property, following the county’s property classes. Governor Matt Meyer let it become law without his signature and asked lawmakers to tax apartments as homes. His office says several districts put apartment complexes in the higher, nonresidential class, and that apartment school-tax rates rose an average of 55% across the county after its reassessment, while most homeowners’ rates fell.

   Office of the Governor, Aug. 7, 2026; House Bill 462

4. July 9, 2026

   Part of a Delmarva Power rate increase takes effect

   Delmarva Power has asked the Public Service Commission to raise its electric distribution revenue by $68.6 million a year, about $23.2 million of it money customers already pay through a separate infrastructure charge that would move into base rates. On July 1 the commission held the interim increase, which took effect July 9, to half of the request, $34.3 million a year, applying a cap in Senate Bill 326, which lawmakers passed June 30 and Governor Matt Meyer signed July 13. The separate charge was set to zero when the interim rates began. The interim money must be refunded with interest if the final rates come in lower. As of mid-October the commission was still reviewing the request.

   Delaware Public Service Commission, Order No. 11037, Aug. 5, 2026; Division of the Public Advocate, Aug. 17, 2026; Delaware Public Service Commission, Oct. 13, 2026

5. April 1, 2026

   New SNAP limits for noncitizens, after wider work rules

   On April 1, under the federal budget law passed in July 2025, Delaware began applying new limits on which noncitizens can get SNAP food benefits; people no longer eligible lose benefits at their next renewal. Since Nov. 1, 2025, more adults have had to show 80 hours a month of work or job training to keep their benefits: the age limit for the work rule rose from 54 to 64, and parents are exempt only while a child under 14 lives with them.

   Delaware Division of Social Services, SNAP alert

6. Nov. 7, 2025

   State money fills part of the SNAP gap during the shutdown

   With federal SNAP money set to run out Nov. 1 during the government shutdown, Governor Matt Meyer declared a state of emergency on Oct. 29 and moved state funds to food benefits. On Nov. 7, nearly 60,000 Delaware households got First State Food Relief Funds, about $5.2 million in all, or a quarter of a normal month’s benefit.

   Office of the Governor, Oct. 29, 2025; State of Delaware, Nov. 7, 2025

Delaware’s counties: Kent, New Castle and Sussex, ranked

Delaware has only three counties. On the County Distress Index, our measure of household financial distress in every U.S. county, Kent County, home to Dover, the state capital, is the most distressed, at 74. New Castle County, home to Wilmington, is second at 58; and Sussex County, the southern county along the ocean, is the least distressed at 41. Kent also has the lowest typical household income of the three, while poverty rates barely differ among them.

Every county, by score

Each county falls in a different score group, and none scores 80 or more.

Delaware’s counties on the county index →

How many Delawareans are behind on their bills?

A few more than nationwide. In early 2025, 18.0% of Delawareans had a debt 90 or more days late, 17th highest among the 50 states and D.C., against 17.2% for the U.S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). For the national figure, we weight each state by its population. These are households’ own debts, not the state government’s.

Delawareans are a little more likely than Americans overall to be behind on cards, car loans and mortgages, and to have a debt in collections

Among people with each kind of loan, the share 90 or more days behind; and among all people, the share with a debt in collections. First quarter of 2025.

People with a debt in collections

Delaware 15.1% U.S. 13.2%

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Delaware 14.4% U.S. 13.5%

Auto borrowers 90+ days late

Delaware 9.4% U.S. 8.5%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Delaware 1.3% U.S. 1.2%

Delaware’s rank among the 50 states and D.C., highest first: collections 16th, cards 16th, car loans tied for 16th, mortgages tied for 14th. For the U.S. bars, we weight each state by its population.

The share of Delawareans with a debt in collections fell from 22.6% at the end of 2019 to 15.1% in early 2025, but that drop says more about credit reports than about people’s finances.

In 2022, the three big credit bureaus began removing certain medical debts from reports. Nationwide, the share of people with a medical collection on file fell from 14% in March 2022 to 5% in June 2023 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). Delaware’s collections share fell from 19.7% to 13.9% over about the same months, and has edged up since.

How foreclosure works in Delaware

Every foreclosure in Delaware goes through Superior Court; a lender can’t take a home without a judge. For a home you live in with one to four units, the lender generally must send a notice of intent to foreclose at least 45 days before it files. The notice must say what it takes to catch up and list housing counselors and the Attorney General’s foreclosure hotline (10 Del. C. § 5062B). Once the case is filed, it goes to mediation on its own: the first meeting with the lender is set 45 to 75 days after you’re served the mediation notice, and no judgment can be entered until after it. To take full part, you meet with a HUD-approved housing counselor and file a certificate of participation within 30 days of that notice. Without it you can still attend, but the law warns mediation is less likely to succeed (10 Del. C. § 5062C). If the home goes to a sheriff’s sale, the sale isn’t final until the court confirms it. Until then you can still pay off the full debt; after that there is no right to buy the home back.

Through early 2026, Delaware’s $50.0 million share of the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund had helped 3,278 households pay mortgages and other housing costs (U.S. Treasury).

Delaware mortgage complaints: what homeowners report to the CFPB

Delawareans have filed 2,235 mortgage complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2012. The most common issue is trouble during the payment process (607); next come loan modifications, collections and foreclosure (461), then loan servicing, payments and escrow (404).

What to watch before the next edition

New jobless figures are due before January, along with higher health plan prices and a second step in the Delmarva increase.

1. Oct. 20, Nov. 20 and Dec. 18, 2026

   New state jobless rates

   The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to publish September’s state unemployment rates on Oct. 20, October’s on Nov. 20 and November’s on Dec. 18. Delaware’s rate in August was 4.7%.

   Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2026 schedule; state unemployment release schedule

2. Nov. 1, 2026

   Sign-up for 2027 marketplace plans opens

   Open enrollment begins at the higher premiums the state approved in September (see what changed).

   Delaware Department of Insurance, Sept. 4, 2026

3. Dec. 9, 2026

   Delmarva’s interim increase steps up

   Unless the Public Service Commission rules first, the interim increase rises to three-quarters of Delmarva Power’s request, $51.5 million a year, still subject to refund with interest.

   Delaware Public Service Commission, Order No. 11037, Aug. 5, 2026

Where Delaware ranks highest and lowest