CrimeMetric

Crime in Dover, Delaware

Major crime in Dover is 2.9 times the U.S. rate per resident: 2.8 times for persons crimes and 2.9 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 12.4% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
292
2.9 times the U.S. rate
2.9 times the Delaware rate
down 12.4% in a year
Persons crimes
280
2.8 times the U.S. rate
2.5 times the Delaware rate
up 5.5% in a year
Property crimes
294
2.9 times the U.S. rate
2.9 times the Delaware rate
down 15.4% in a year
Social disorder
309
3.1 times the U.S. rate
2.2 times the Delaware rate
down 2.6% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

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Crime by type

Shoplifting stands out most, at 7.1 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Dover for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

How crime varies across Dover

The middle half of Dover residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 80 and 444; the typical (median) resident's is 228. The citywide figure (292) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Dover, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Tap one to compare it. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–509.9%
  • 50–10027.0%
  • 100–2003.9%
  • 200–40030.1%
  • 400+28.9%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on weekday daytimes

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm332
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am250
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm311
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am248
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 12.4% in a year; across Delaware it fell 9.1%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-12.4%DE -9.1%-10.1%DE -8.8%
Persons crimes+5.5%DE -1.4%+1.4%DE +2.5%
Property crimes-15.4%DE -10.8%-12.5%DE -11.6%
Social disorder-2.6%DE -7.0%-4.8%DE -2.0%

Change in expected crimes, with Delaware as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

Dover against U.S. places with 25,000 to 50,000 residents

12 of the 960 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Dover; the middle of the group is 77. The 9 nearest in population:

Dover, DE40,446292
Woodlawn, MD40,331188
Chelsea, MA40,50099
Waukee, IA40,30531
Sanford, NC40,59225

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Dover has a higher major-crime index than all of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Dover Base Housing (4 mi), is 93% below Dover's rate.

Dover292
Camden4 mi217
Salem, NJ28 mi150
Smyrna9 mi140
Denton, MD24 mi124
Milford19 mi98
Middletown22 mi93

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Dover

What are the most common crimes in Dover?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are shoplifting (about 919 a year), other larceny (about 455 a year) and aggravated assault (about 312 a year). Compared with the U.S., shoplifting stands out most: 7.1 times the U.S. rate per resident.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Dover's figures add up its 21 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Dover's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 79.3% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 40,446. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Dover, Delaware." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/de/dover

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100