Best PlacesRockland, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockland, 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.
Rockland ranks 1,974th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rockland
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.
Rockland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockland ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$197,916 median, better than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
Where Rockland ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 20% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rockland
A household needs to earn about $182,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $197,916, 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 Rockland's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rockland
Rockland runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rockland.
Who works in Rockland, and how
Work in Rockland centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rockland
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rockland, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockland, month by month
Rockland sees roughly 61 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 Rockland
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 19 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockland
Schools across Rockland average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brandywine Springs SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Lombardy Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Springer Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Dupont (alexis I.) Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Brandywine High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Dupont (alexis I.) High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockland 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 Rockland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rockland
Is Rockland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockland ranks 1,974th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rockland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $700,797. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $197,916 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Rockland safe?
Rockland is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Rockland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockland 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.
Rockland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockland 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.