Best PlacesWoodland Beach, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Woodland Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Woodland Beach ranks 41,737th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Woodland Beach
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.
Woodland Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woodland Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 68% of towns
Where Woodland Beach ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Woodland Beach
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woodland Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,041, 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 Woodland Beach's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Woodland Beach
Woodland Beach runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Woodland Beach.
Who works in Woodland Beach, and how
Work in Woodland Beach centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Woodland Beach
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Woodland Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Woodland Beach, month by month
Woodland Beach 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 Woodland Beach
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woodland Beach
Schools across Woodland Beach average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lower Alloways Creek Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Smyrna Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- North Smyrna Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moore (john Bassett) SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Smyrna High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woodland Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woodland Beach 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 Woodland Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Woodland Beach
Is Woodland Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woodland Beach ranks 41,737th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Woodland Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $291,744. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $75,041 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Woodland Beach safe?
Woodland Beach is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $519 per resident a year.
Compare Woodland Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woodland Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woodland Beach 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.
Woodland Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woodland Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woodland Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woodland Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woodland Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woodland Beach 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.