9 Best Places To Call Home In Delaware In 2026

Statewide, Zillow puts the average Delaware home value near $397,840 as of mid-2026, and several of the smaller towns here come in well under that. Property taxes rank among the lowest in the country, so the monthly cost of owning stays down long after closing. The beaches at the Atlantic sit within an hour of most towns, and Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington are all short drives north and west. No statewide sales tax rounds out the math that draws retirees and families watching a budget. Here are nine of the best places in Delaware to call home.

Milford

The Mispillion River runs straight through the middle of Milford, and the Riverwalk that follows it is where residents walk in the morning and watch for herons along the bank. Zillow reports an average home value around $346,539, below the state figure. Downtown sits a few blocks off the water, where Gallery 57 shows work from local artists and Milford Memories & More stocks secondhand finds. It is an easy town to run errands in on foot.

South of downtown, the DuPont Nature Center opens April through September with hands-on exhibits and birdwatching along the Delaware Bay. When the walking is done, My Sister's Fault turns out empanadas and cheesecake a short drive back toward the center of town.

Dover

The Green anchors downtown Dover, a colonial square laid out in 1717 and still ringed by the buildings that grew up around it. As the state capital, Dover sits near the center of Delaware, which makes the rest of the state reachable in a day. Twice a year the Dover Motor Speedway draws NASCAR crowds, and the Air Mobility Command Museum keeps a fleet of retired military aircraft that visitors can walk right up to. The average home value runs about $345,288, and the beaches are less than an hour east.

Smyrna

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge spreads across the marsh just east of Smyrna, and its trails and observation towers pull birdwatchers through in spring and fall when the migration is heaviest. Back in town, the Smyrna Opera House runs a full season of plays, musicals, and concerts out of a restored 19th-century hall. Belmont Hall, built in 1773 and once home to Delaware governor Thomas Collins, stands at the edge of town as one of its older landmarks. The average home value sits around $407,419, which buys a foothold in a small town without pushing past the state average by much.

Harrington

For ten days each July, the Delaware State Fair takes over Harrington with livestock shows, midway rides, and grandstand concerts. The rest of the year the fairgrounds stay busy with agricultural events and community gatherings, so the town never fully empties out after the fair packs up.

Harrington Raceway & Casino runs harness racing on a half-mile track, a sport that has a long history in this part of Delaware. Families spend weekend afternoons at Browns Branch County Park, which has picnic areas, walking trails, and a playground. With an average home value around $278,191, the lowest on this list, Harrington offers quiet neighborhoods at a price that is hard to match nearby.

Seaford

The Nanticoke River shaped Seaford long before it was a town, serving as a Native American travel route and later a shipping channel that connected the interior to the Chesapeake. Today the river carries kayaks and fishing boats, and bald eagles nest along its banks. Home values average about $321,439, low enough to draw buyers who want river access without a coastal price tag.

West of town, the Woodland Ferry has been crossing the Nanticoke since the 1740s, one of the oldest continuously operating ferries in the country, and it still carries cars and pedestrians free of charge. North of Seaford, the Governor Ross Mansion preserves the Italianate home that William Henry Harrison Ross, governor from 1851 to 1855, completed in 1860 alongside the railroad he helped bring to southern Delaware.

New Castle

Cobblestone streets and brick colonial buildings fill the historic district in New Castle, which fronts the Delaware River a short drive south of Wilmington. Amstel House, the Georgian mansion at Fourth and Delaware streets, dates to about 1738 and hosted George Washington at a family wedding in 1784. The average home value here is roughly $286,159, among the lowest in New Castle County.

The New Castle Farmers Market draws residents on weekends for produce and prepared food, and the New Castle Court House Museum, once Delaware's colonial capitol, tells the story of how the state ratified the Constitution first. Living here means all of that history sits within walking distance of home.

Georgetown

Georgetown was laid out in 1791 around a central square known as The Circle, still the seat of Sussex County government and the site of Return Day, the biennial post-election tradition where results are read aloud and rival candidates ride together through town. The Marvel Carriage Museum, a few blocks off The Circle, keeps a collection of restored 19th-century horse-drawn carriages. The average home value runs about $380,545.

The Delaware Aviation Museum Foundation, based at the county airport, restores and displays vintage aircraft. Georgetown sits near the middle of Sussex County, which puts the beaches within a half-hour drive in one direction and open farmland in every other.

Felton

Felton grew up around a railroad stop, and the Felton Railroad Station from 1856 still stands as a reminder of why the town is here at all. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town stays small and quiet, with an average home value around $394,021 and enough space between houses for real privacy.

Killens Pond State Park sits just south of town, where a water park draws families on hot summer days and the pond itself is open for kayaking and canoeing. For a night off from cooking, Anna & Mike's Pizza handles takeout, from wings and subs through eggplant parmigiana.

Bridgeville

Scrapple has been produced in Bridgeville since RAPA opened its plant here in 1926, and the smell of it still hangs over town on processing days. The surrounding farmland grows apples and produce, sold direct at family operations like T.S. Smith & Sons, one of the oldest orchards in the state. The average home value is about $369,976.

Each October the Apple-Scrapple Festival fills the streets with apple dumplings, scrapple sandwiches, craft vendors, and a scrapple-tossing contest that has become the town's signature weekend. When the festival winds down, Antique Alley, the largest antique mall in Sussex County, is worth a slow afternoon of browsing.

Choosing Where To Settle

The nine towns here divide roughly along the map. New Castle and Smyrna put you within reach of Wilmington and the northern job market, Dover and Harrington sit at the center near the state's institutions and the fairgrounds, and Seaford, Georgetown, Felton, Milford, and Bridgeville stretch south toward the farmland and the beaches. Prices track that geography loosely, with Harrington and New Castle at the affordable end and the coastal-adjacent towns costing more.

What holds across all of them is the math that draws people to Delaware in the first place: no sales tax, low property taxes, and home values that in most of these towns land below the state average. That combination is what turns a short list of towns into a real decision about where to build a life.