Kent County, Delaware


Kent County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851, making it the least populous county in Delaware, but the most populous county in the United States to be the least populous in its state. The county seat is Dover, the state capital of Delaware. It is named for Kent, an English county.
Kent County comprises the Dover metropolitan area, which is included in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD combined statistical area.

History

In about 1670 the English began to settle in the valley of the St. Jones River, earlier known as Wolf Creek. On June 21, 1680, the Duke of York chartered St. Jones County, which was carved out of New Amstel/New Castle and Hoarkill/Sussex counties. St. Jones County was transferred to William Penn on August 24, 1682, and became part of Penn's newly chartered Delaware Colony.
Penn ordered a court town to be laid out, and the courthouse was built in 1697. The town of Dover, named after the town of Dover in England's Kent, was finally laid out in 1717, in what was then known as the Lower Counties. It was designated as the capital of Delaware in 1777. In 1787 Delaware was first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and became "the First State." Through much of the late 18th century, the economy of Kent County was based on small grain farms. As a result, farmers did not need as many slaves as did owners of tobacco plantations. Delaware had a high proportion of free blacks among its African-American population by the early 19th century.
In the 1960s, Dover was a center of manufacturing of spacesuits worn by NASA astronauts in the Apollo moon flights by ILC Dover, now based in the small town of Frederica. The suits, dubbed the "A7L," was first flown on the Apollo 7 mission in October 1967, and was the suit worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission. The company still manufactures spacesuits to this day—the present-day Space Shuttle "soft" suit components.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Kent County, like all of Delaware's counties, is subdivided into Hundreds. There are several explanations given for how the Hundreds were arrived at, either being an area containing 100 families, an area containing 100 people, or an area that could raise 100 militiamen. Kent County was originally apportioned into six Hundreds: Duck Creek, Little Creek, Dover, Murderkill, Milford and Mispillion. In 1867, the Delaware legislature split Murderkill Hundred into North Murderkill Hundred and South Murderkill Hundred. In 1869, the legislature formed Kenton Hundred from parts of Little Creek and Duck Creek Hundred. Today the county contains eight Hundreds.

Adjacent counties

Kent County has a humid subtropical climate according to the Köppen climate classification. The Trewartha climate classification considers the climate oceanic because only seven months average above 50 °F All months average above freezing and Dover has three months averaging above. The hardiness zone is 7b.

Transportation

Major highways

The following state highways are located in Kent County:

Railroads

The Delmarva Central Railroad operates two freight lines through Kent County. The Delmarva Subdivision runs north–south along the US 13 corridor through Farmington, Harrington, Felton, Wyoming, Dover, Cheswold, and Clayton and the Indian River Subdivision branches from the Delmarva Subdivision at Harrington and runs east to Houston and Milford along the DE 14 corridor. There is no passenger rail service in the county.

Public transportation

operates bus service within Kent County. There are several local bus routes that serve the Dover area. In addition, DART First State operates inter-county service to Wilmington, Newark, Georgetown, and Lewes, along with seasonal service to Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.

Airports

Kent County contains the following public-use and military airports:
Kent County is governed by the Kent County Levy Court, which consists of seven members, six of whom are elected by district and the seventh who is elected at-large. The current members of the Kent County Levy Court are:
  • Joanne Masten - 1st district
  • Jeffrey W. Hall - 2nd district
  • Allan F. Angel - 3rd district
  • Robert J. Scott - 4th district
  • George Jody Sweeney - 5th district
  • Paul Hertz - 6th district
  • Terry L. Pepper - At-Large
The county row offices are held by:
Politically, Kent County is a swing county in local, state, and federal elections. The county is often used in state politics to determine a party or candidate's strength in statewide elections and is often considered a bellwether county, having voting for the winner of the national presidential election in 17 out of the last 19 presidential elections. In the 2016 general elections, Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump won Kent County with 49.81% of the vote compared to Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton's 44.91% out of 74,260 votes cast. In the 2020 presidential election, Delaware resident Joe Biden took 51.19% of the vote compared to Trump's 47.12%, out of 87,025 votes cast. Trump lost the county in 2024, making him the first Republican in 100 years to win the presidency without the county.
YearRepublicanDemocraticThird parties
202449.75% 42,75050.25% 43,1790.0% 0
202046.05% 39,33251.93% 44,3522.02% 1,731
201648.05% 34,77749.68% 35,9552.27% 1,646
201236.04% 23,84661.5% 40,6962.46% 1,628

In the Delaware General Assembly, 8 of the 41 seats in the Delaware State House of Representatives. As of March 2020, Democrats held 4 seats and Republicans held 4 seats. In the Delaware State Senate, 5 senate districts represent parts of Kent County. As of March 2020 there were 3 Republican seats and 2 Democratic seats.

Demographics

Race 2010200019901980
White alone 57.7%
65.2%
72.1%
77.5%
79%
Black alone 25.2%
23.3%
20.3%
18.3%
17.9%
American Indian alone 0.5%
0.6%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
Asian alone 2.4%
2%
1.7%
1.2%
0.8%
Pacific Islander alone 0.1%
0%
0%
1.2%
0.8%
Other race alone 0.6%
0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
0.2%
Multiracial 6%
2.9%
1.9%
——
Hispanic/Latino 7.7%
5.8%
3.2%
2.3%
1.8%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 181,851. Of the residents, 23.1% were under the age of 18 and 18.0% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 38.5 years. For every 100 females there were 92.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.1 males. 73.5% of residents lived in urban areas and 26.5% lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 59.2% White, 25.8% Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.4% Asian, 3.1% from some other race, and 8.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 7.7% of the population.
There were 68,290 households in the county, of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 29.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 72,708 housing units, of which 6.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 71.0% were owner-occupied and 29.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.9%.The most reported ancestries were:
As of the 2010 census, there were 162,310 people, 60,278 households, and 42,290 families living in the county. The population density was. There were 65,338 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 67.8% white, 24.0% black or African American, 2.0% Asian, 0.6% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.0% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 5.8% of the population.