Delaware by the numbers - Figures

FIGURES
Based on U.S. Census, American Community Survey Profile 2005 and the Delaware Department of Labor

Economy & People
Chief Products:

• Agriculture -- broilers, soybeans, corn, milk.
• Fishing Industry -- crabs, clams.
• Manufacturing -- chemicals, food products, paper products, rubber and plastics products, primary metals, printed materials.
• Mining -- sand and gravel, magnesium compounds.

Population:

• 2000 Population Estimate: 783,600
• 45th among the states
• Density: 401 persons per square mile
• The largest cities in 2000:Wilmington, with an estimated population of 72,664, and Dover, the capital, with 32,135.
  
  

For additional information, go to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Delaware Economic Development Office, or the Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information.

• 2007 Population Estimate: 853,476
• 2025 Population Projection: 861,000
• 51 percent female
• 49 percent male
• Change from 2000: +69,876
• Births 2000-2006: 69,846
• Deaths 2000-2006: 44,173
• Internal migration 2000-2006: +33,419
• International migration 2000-2006: +13,394
• 2005 housing units: 374,872
• Housing units change from 2000-2005: +30,613

Diversity:
Among those identifying themselves as being of one race:

• 74 percent are white
• 20 percent are African-American
• 3 percent are Asian-American
• less than 0.5 percent are American Indian or Alaska natives
• less than 0.5 percent are native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
• and 2 percent are other races
• Six percent are Hispanic, of any race.

in 2000 Delaware's 44,898 foreign born made up 5.7% of the state's population in 2000 (more than double the total of 22,275, or 3.3%, in 1990). The United Kingdom, Germany, India, Italy, and Canada were the leading places of origin.

Median age:
37.9, 13% were age 65 or over, while 24.8% were under 18 years of age.

Households:
317,640

Types of households:
Married couple families, 50 percent; people living alone, 26 percent; other families, 18 percent; other non-family households, 6 percent

Where we live:
70 percent in single-family homes; 19 percent in apartments or multi-unit buildings; 11 percent in mobile homes -- and 28 percent of the state's housing has been built since 1990.

Average family size:
3.08

Median annual household income:
$52,499

Per capita yearly income:
$27,650 -- up from $26,440 in 2004 survey

Mean commute time of workers:
23.7 minutes

Most common occupations:
Management, professional and related work, 37 percent; sales and office occupations, 26 percent; service occupations, 15 percent; production, transportation and material moving, 11 percent; construction, maintenance and related work, 10 percent

Who's the boss:
Private wage or salary workers, 81 percent; government workers, 13 percent; self-employed, 6 percent

Unemployment rate:
3.3 percent as of May 2007, compared with 3.7 percent a year earlier -- and national unemployment rate of 4.5 percent

Adults' education:
Less than completion of high school with diploma, 14 percent; high school diploma or equivalent, 33 percent; some college but no degree, 18 percent; associate's degree, 7 percent; bachelor's degree, 16 percent; graduate or professional degree, 11 percent.

Languages:
English in Delaware is basically North Midland, with Philadelphia features in Wilmington and the northern portion. In the north, one wants off a bus, lowers curtains rather than blinds, pronounces wharf without /h/, and says /noo/ and /doo/ for new and due and / krik/ for creek. In 2000, 662,845 Delawareans—90.5% of the resident population five years of age or older—spoke only English at home.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "African languages" includes Amharic, Ibo, Twi, Yoruba, Bantu, Swahili, and Somali. The category "Other Asian languages" includes Dravidian languages, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Turkish. The category "Other West Germanic languages" includes Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Afrikaans.

LANGUAGE	NUMBER	PERCENT
Population 5 years and over	732,378	100.0
Speak only English	662,845	90.5
Speak a language other than English	69,533	9.5
Speak a language other than English	69,533	9.5
Spanish or Spanish Creole	34,690	4.7
French (incl. Patois, Cajun)	4,041	0.6
Chinese	3,579	0.5
German	3,420	0.5
Italian	2,860	0.4
Polish	2,036	0.3
Korean	1,598	0.2
African languages	1,289	0.2
Tagalog	1,284	0.2
Other Asian languages	1,280	0.2
Other West Germanic languages	1,245	0.2
French Creole	1,199	0.2
Other Indic languages	1,186	0.2

Religions
The earliest permanent European settlers in Delaware were Swedish and Finnish Lutherans and Dutch Calvinists. English Quakers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and Welsh Baptists arrived in the 18th century, though Anglicization was the predominant trend. The Great Awakening, America's first religious revival, began on 30 October 1739 at Lewes with the arrival of George Whitefield, an Anglican preacher involved in the movement that would later become the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church was the largest denomination in Delaware by the early 19th century. Subsequent immigration brought Lutherans from Germany; Roman Catholics from Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Poland; and Jews from Germany, Poland, and Russia. Most of the Catholic and Jewish immigrants settled in cities, Wilmington in particular.

From 1990–2000, the Catholic Church gained 35,399 new members, enough to outnumber the previously dominant mainline Protestants. There were 151,740 Catholics in about 46 congregations in 2000. The United Methodist Church had 59,471 adherents in 162 congregations, Episcopalians numbered 12,993 in 35 congregations, and the Presbyterian Church USA claimed 14,880 adherents in about 37 congregations. There were about 13,500 adherents to Judaism. About 59.4% of the population were not counted as members of any religious organization.

Transportation
The New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, a portage route, was built in 1832; the state's first passenger line—the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad—opened six years later. As of 2000, there were 281 rail mi (452 km) of track. In 1998, Delaware's six railroads carried nearly 14.1 million tons of freight—54% of the rail tonnage originating from within the state were chemicals. Consolidated Rail and CSX are Delaware's main freight carriers. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak operated approximately 70 daily trains through Delaware and served both Newark and Wilmington. The Delaware Authority for Regional Transit (DART) provides state-subsidized bus service.

In 2000, the state had 5,779 mi (9,300 km) of public highways, roads, and streets. In the same year, there were 641,426 registered vehicles and 556,688 licensed drivers. Delaware's first modern highway—and the first dual highway in the US—running about 100 mi (160 km) from Wilmington to the southern border, was financed by industrialist T. Coleman du Pont between 1911 and 1924. The twin spans of the Delaware Memorial Bridge connect Delaware highways to those in New Jersey; The Delaware Turnpike section of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway links the bridge system with Maryland. The Lewes–Cape May Ferry provides auto and passenger service between southern Delaware and New Jersey.

In 2000, New Castle, Delaware's chief port, handled 8.7 million tons of goods, followed by Wilmington, with a tonnage of 5.2 million tons that year. The Delaware River is the conduit for much of the oil brought by tanker to the US east coast.

Delaware had 45 airfields (29 airport, 15 heliports, 1 seaplane base) in 2002, of which Greater Wilmington Airport was the largest and busiest.

source:
Delaware Almanac 2007
and
Delaware Facts and Symbols