Kent County, Delaware Eviction Risk: Moderate

Kent County carries an average eviction-risk score of 4.3/10, putting it in the Elevated tier and making it the least risky of Delaware's three counties. Its two peers, Sussex County (6.4/10) and New Castle County (6.6/10), both sit above it. That relative positioning is worth keeping in perspective, though: a 5.9 still signals a market where tenant-side stress factors, rent burden, and income volatility create meaningful operating risk for landlords across the county's 26 cities.

The intra-county spread runs from 4.6/10 to 7/10, a 2.4-point gap that matters enormously for acquisition decisions. At an average rent of $1,408 per month and an average rent burden of 32.7%, a significant share of renters are already stretched, which feeds into both delinquency probability and the practical difficulty of recovering possession quickly when a tenancy breaks down.

The cities inside Kent County

The highest-risk location in the county is Woodside East, which scores 4.6/10 with a population of roughly 2,962. Close behind are Woodside at 4.1/10 and a cluster of smaller communities, including Rising Sun-Lebanon (3.7/10, pop. 4,163), Harrington (4.2/10, pop. 3,838), Wyoming (4.6/10), Felton (4.2/10), and Leipsic (4.4/10). Smyrna, the county's second-largest city at 13,165 residents, also falls in the elevated range at 6.7/10. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: a few miles can separate a 6.8 from a 5.3.

Dover itself, the county seat and by far the largest city at 39,837 residents, scores a comparatively moderate 5.3/10, making it the softest risk environment in the county among major population centers. Landlords building a Kent County portfolio should weight city-level scores heavily, since the county average smooths over a wide range of underlying conditions.

State-level laws that apply here

All residential tenancies in Kent County operate under 25 Del. C. § 5101 et seq., Delaware eviction laws's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. For non-payment, landlords must serve a 5-day notice before filing. A lease-violation cure notice requires 7 days, and a no-cause end-of-term notice requires 30 days. Delaware eviction laws state law does not require just cause for non-renewal, and there is no statewide rent cap. Landlords must give tenants 48 hours notice before entry.

On the cost side, the Delaware eviction laws eviction process carries court filing fees ranging from $45 to $125, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $150, and attorney fees typically running $500 to $3,000. An uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 45 days; a contested case can stretch to 60 to 120 days. Understanding Delaware eviction costs upfront is essential to accurate underwriting, especially in higher-risk cities where contested filings are more likely. Landlords should also review Delaware tenant protections, which include an anti-retaliation statute under 25 Del. C. § 5516 and habitability requirements under 25 Del. C. § 5305.

With an average poverty rate of 12.3% and a renter share of 37.7% across the county, Kent County's tenant pool carries real economic pressure; the city-level scores in the grid above show exactly where that pressure concentrates most.