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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Delaware

0 persistent-poverty counties

Delaware has 1 nonmetro counties and no counties flagged by USDA ERS for persistent poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 10.7% and child poverty is 15.8%.

0

Persistent-poverty counties

1

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

0

Residents in PPCs

3

Total counties

Delaware by county

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Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

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Delaware at a glance

Poverty rate

10.7%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

15.8%

Under 18

PPC share

0.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

33.3%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

2.98

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.11

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Delaware's 30 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 3 in Delaware.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Sussex 0.16
  2. 2 Kent 0.12
  3. 3 New Castle 0.04

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Sussex 11.5%
  2. 2 Kent 11.3%
  3. 3 New Castle 10.2%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

Delaware has no persistent-poverty counties in the 2025 ERS typology.

Every county in Delaware

All 3 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Kent 3 — Housing, Retire. 11.3% 16.3% 185,043 0.12
New Castle 1 — — 10.2% 13.5% 573,030 0.04
Sussex 4 — Retire. 11.5% 21.6% 247,799 0.16

Find a food pantry in Delaware

Search Delaware's 30 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Delaware pantry directory

Delaware SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

Delaware SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

Delaware food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology