Best PlacesDover Afb, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dover Afb, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dover Afb ranks 11,555th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dover Afb
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Dover Afb's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dover Afb ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute7.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
Where Dover Afb ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
Who lives in Dover Afb
Dover Afb runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dover Afb.
Who works in Dover Afb, and how
Work in Dover Afb centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Dover Afb
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Dover Afb, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dover Afb, month by month
Dover Afb sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Dover Afb
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dover Afb
Schools across Dover Afb average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Major George S. Welch Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- East Dover Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dover Air Force Base Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- F. Niel Postlethwait Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- William Henry Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Caesar Rodney High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Dover High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dover Afb school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dover Afb measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Dover Afb against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dover Afb
Is Dover Afb a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dover Afb ranks 11,555th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, short commutes, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dover Afb safe?
Dover Afb is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dover Afb?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 27. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of towns.
Compare Dover Afb with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dover Afb. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dover Afb represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Dover Afb detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dover Afb: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dover Afb: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dover Afb: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dover Afb: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dover Afb detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.