Dover composite
38.5 /100
Grade C- · weighted across 7 dims
Metro comparison
Dover vs Philadelphia
Dover, DE and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.
- 38.5
- Dover Life Score
- C-
- Dover grade
- 45.4
- Philadelphia Life Score
- C
- Philadelphia grade
Head-to-head verdict
Across the seven dimensions, Dover scores higher on 4 (cost of living, rent, schools, childcare) and Philadelphia on 3 (wages, safety, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.
Dover vs Philadelphia across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)
Where each metro wins, and by how much
Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.
◖ Dover Philadelphia ◗
cost of living
31
13
wages
58
86
rent
34
14
safety
42
69
schools
25
17
childcare
43
0
environment
25
70
Dover and Philadelphia differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Dover has a cost-of-living index of 97.5 vs Philadelphia's 102.6 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $64,394 in Dover and $74,260 in Philadelphia. A 2-bedroom averages $1,470/mo vs $1,810/mo.
How to read this matchup
Reading the Dover vs Philadelphia Comparison
Dover (DE) and Philadelphia (PA) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 97.5 for Dover against 102.6 for Philadelphia, a 5.0-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $1,470/mo in Dover and $1,810/mo in Philadelphia, a $340/mo difference that compounds to $4,080 over a year.
On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $64,394 across 59,250 jobs in Dover against $74,260 across 2,874,190 jobs in Philadelphia. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Dover carries the same local purchasing power as $105,176 in Philadelphia - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 367.8 per 100,000 residents in DE vs 249.5 in PA, with property-crime rates of 1772.7 and 1457.1 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: DE lists 223 public schools at a 13.9:1 student-teacher ratio, while PA lists 2,930 schools at 13.6:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Dover and Philadelphia are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.
Philadelphia composite
45.4 /100
Grade C · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
-5.0 pts
Dover vs Philadelphia BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$340 /mo
Philadelphia priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Dover
Dover composite (Grade C-)
Philadelphia
Philadelphia composite (Grade C)
Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.
💰 Cost of Living BEA →
| Category | Dover | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 97.5 | 102.6 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.8 |
| Services | 97.2 | 114.4 |
| Rents | 95.9 | 113.1 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in Philadelphia gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Dover?
$
Equivalent in Philadelphia:
$105,176
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Dover: 97.5, Philadelphia: 102.6, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →
| Bedrooms | Dover | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,158/mo | $1,397/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,165/mo | $1,520/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $1,470/mo | $1,810/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,044/mo | $2,170/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $2,285/mo | $2,423/mo |
💼 Wages & Employment BLS →
| Metric | Dover | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| Avg Median Salary | $64,394 | $74,260 |
| Total Employment | 59,250 | 2,874,190 |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Dover (DE) | Philadelphia (PA) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 367.8 | 249.5 |
| Property Crime | 1772.7 | 1457.1 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →
| Metric | DE | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 223 | 2,930 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 13.9:1 | 13.6:1 |
| Charter Schools | 10.3% | 6.0% |
🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →
| Metric | DE | PA |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 64 | 1,241 |
| Water Systems | 209 | 1,787 |
| Superfund Sites | 26 | 127 |
| Water Violations | 158 | 5,198 |
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.
💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →
| Metric | Dover | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 41.0 | 53.0 |
| Good Air Days | 74.4% | 38.0% |
| Unhealthy Air Days | 0 days | 15 days |
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →
| Metric | DE | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 32/100 | 4/100 |
| Total Violations | 9,105 | 1,159,868 |
| Health-Based Violations | 4,582 | 68,517 |
| Systems with Violations | 74.8% | 97.1% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →
| Metric | DE | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 30 | 392 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →
| Metric | DE | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 8/100 | 40/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 91.3 | 67.4 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 91.1 | 66.6 |
FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.
Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dover more expensive than Philadelphia? ▼
Dover has a cost of living index of 97.5 compared to Philadelphia's 102.6 (national average = 100). Philadelphia is 5.0 points above Dover on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Dover and Philadelphia? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,470/mo in Dover vs $1,810/mo in Philadelphia, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $1,158/mo to $1,397/mo.
How do salaries compare between Dover and Philadelphia? ▼
The average median salary across all occupations is $64,394 in Dover and $74,260 in Philadelphia, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Dover has the same purchasing power as $105,176 in Philadelphia.
Is Dover or Philadelphia safer? ▼
At the state level, DE has a violent crime rate of 367.8 per 100,000 residents compared to PA's 249.5 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1772.7 vs 1457.1 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Dover and Philadelphia? ▼
DE has 223 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 13.9:1, while PA has 2,930 schools at 13.6:1. Charter schools make up 10.3% of DE schools vs 6.0% in PA. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from? ▼
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.
Research Guides
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Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.
Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial