Best PlacesKirkwood, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kirkwood, 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.
Kirkwood ranks 2,714th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kirkwood
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.
Kirkwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kirkwood ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$154,643 median, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Kirkwood ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kirkwood
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kirkwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $154,643, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Kirkwood's effective rate of 0.94%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Kirkwood
Kirkwood runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kirkwood.
Who works in Kirkwood, and how
Work in Kirkwood centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 44%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kirkwood
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Kirkwood, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kirkwood, month by month
Kirkwood sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Kirkwood
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kirkwood
Schools across Kirkwood average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cedar Lane Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waters (alfred G.) Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Bedford (gunning) Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Appoquinimink High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Penn (william) High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kirkwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kirkwood 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 Kirkwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kirkwood
Is Kirkwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kirkwood ranks 2,714th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, state infrastructure, and what local pay buys, and lowest on the weather and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kirkwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $536,800. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $154,643 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Kirkwood safe?
Kirkwood is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Kirkwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kirkwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kirkwood 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.
Kirkwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kirkwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kirkwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kirkwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kirkwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kirkwood 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.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- 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.