Delmar, DE carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 75% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Delmar, DE shows violent crime at 614.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,281.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 75% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
614.3/100K violent
2281.7/100K property
+75% vs U.S.
The verdict
Delmar earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 75% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+75%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
9th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,281.7
property crimes per 100K
Based on 14 reported violent incidents in a population of 2,279. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Delmar, DE
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 216.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 614.3 in 2024 (+184.1%). The highest observed value was 622.2 in 2023 and the lowest 216.2 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Delmar reported 14 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 2,279. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Delmar's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Delaware cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Delmar's 614.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Rehoboth Beach (635.9), Bethany Beach (640.4), Wyoming (571.1), Georgetown (702.2). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Delmar sits mid-pack among comparable Delaware cities
At 614.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Delmar ranks 11 of 38 — above 27 of the 37 other Delaware cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +108.8% against the cohort median of 294.2. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 21.2% of the 66 Part I offenses reported in Delmar for 2024, against a median of 13.4% across comparable Delaware cities — a gap of 7.8 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 73.1% of reported property offenses in Delmar, against a cohort median of 81.2%. The remainder is burglary (13) and motor vehicle theft (1). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Delmar's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 14 reported violent incidents in a population of 2,279. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
On a small municipal row, small denominators make rates sensitive to a handful of incidents. Figures are reported totals, not neighbourhood advice.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+11.6%
2044.4 → 2281.7/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-1.3%
622.2 → 614.3/100K
Property offenses lead Delmar's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs DE
Property Crime
52
2281.7
1711
1772.7
Larceny-Theft
38
1667.4
-
-
Burglary
13
570.4
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
1
43.9
-
-
Arson
0
0
-
-
Violent Crime
14
614.3
352
367.8
Aggravated Assault
14
614.3
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Rape
0
0
-
-
Robbery
0
0
-
-
Delmar Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Delmar property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,281.7/100K↑11.6%vs 2023
Delmar violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
614.3/100K↓1.3%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
1,850
216.2
2702.7
54
2021
Comparable
1,911
366.3
2145.5
48
2022
Comparable
2,178
551
2020.2
56
2023
Comparable
2,250
622.2
2044.4
60
2024
Comparable
2,279
614.3
2281.7
66
How Delmar sits among DE peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Delmar Police Department NIBRS-participating
Delmar's crime figures on this page originate from Delmar Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Delaware
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Delaware cities closest to Delmar in population. Their populations run from 1,336 to 3,035, against 2,279 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Delaware cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Delmar's 614.3/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Delmar has a violent crime rate of 614.3 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2281.7 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Delmar, DE safe? ▼
Delmar receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 19/100. The violent crime rate is 75% above the national average and 67% above the Delaware average.
What is the population of Delmar, DE? ▼
The reporting population for Delmar is 2,279 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Delmar? ▼
In 2024, Delmar reported 14 violent crimes and 52 property crimes, for a total of 66 reported offenses.
How do Delmar's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Delmar recorded about one reported offense per 35 residents and one reported violent offense per 163 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Delmar? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Delmar's violent crime rate decreased by 1.3%, and the property crime rate increased by 11.6%.
What is the most common crime in Delmar? ▼
The most common crime type in Delmar is larceny-theft, accounting for 57.6% of all reported crimes (38 incidents in 2024).
Micro-municipal read: Delmar's FBI UCR Table 8 row (2024) is the only source for the rates above.
With a small population base, per-100,000 rates amplify sparse counts. Incomplete submissions are excluded from rankings. See FBI.gov UCR for the raw Table 8 file.
Disclaimer (small municipal): small-base rates are especially easy to misread. Informational only - not advice. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Delmar, DE rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.