Projected to grow to 371 residents by 2050, a 39% increase from the current municipal estimate.
A missing measure is unavailable coverage, not zero or an absence claim.
The Delaware Population Consortium projects 371 residents in 2050, a 39% change from its 2024 municipal estimate. This is a planning projection, not an observed outcome.
2024 estimate: 267 · 2050 projection: 371
98% of occupied homes are owner-occupied in the latest population and housing record.
Owner-occupied: 98%
Population uses Delaware's official Population Consortium estimate, which does not carry the ACS survey's sampling error for small places. Households and other figures below remain ACS survey estimates.
Planning projection, not an observed outcome
Source: dpc projections 2024 · 2050 ↗Among residents age 25 and older. ±33% margin of error.
Source: census acs5 2024 · 2024 ↗Each share uses the total Bethel population as its denominator. Hispanic or Latino may be of any race; the other broad categories are non-Hispanic. Detailed Asian-alone groups use a separate Census race table.
Sources: census acs5 2024 · 2024 ↗. Positive detailed Asian estimates are shown in this same composition list; published zeroes are omitted and are not proof of absence. Small differences may be within ACS survey uncertainty.
Source: dpc projections 2024 · 2024 ↗. ACS estimates cover a five-year survey period; margin of error is reported where provided.
LODES counts jobs by workplace location, not the industries of residents or a named-employer roster. The sector mix can show the shape of the local job base, not dependence on individual companies.
Latest LODES workplace-job estimates. Shares use the total local job count. Commuter-flow context (who works here vs. lives here) is intentionally omitted until the Delaware panel can identify scoped destinations without overstating cross-border precision — see real work-destination distances in the Mobility section below.
Source: lodes8 wac de 2023 · 2023 ↗.
Housing estimates describe existing conditions. Permit and development records signal reported activity, not starts, completions, or a complete construction census.
These estimates cover owner-occupied homes only. They are not listings, sales, appraisals, or an all-homes measure; the final Census band is open-ended at $2M+.
Source: census acs5 2024 · 2024 ↗.
GTFS measures scheduled service at stops within the boundary. It is not ridership, reliability, or a guarantee that a particular trip is practical. ACS commute modes are a separate survey estimate.
Source: census acs5 2024 · 2024 ↗.
Source: census acs5 2024 · 2024 ↗.
Work destinations are selected from observed resident job flows. These are broad, reviewed planning ranges from representative parts of Bethel—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.
Seaford is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bethel, representing 20% of matched resident jobs from this place.
Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.
Laurel is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bethel, representing 16% of matched resident jobs from this place.
Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.
Wilmington is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bethel, representing 11% of matched resident jobs from this place.
Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.
Dover is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bethel, representing 11% of matched resident jobs from this place.
Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.
Planning estimate; actual time varies by departure time, route, traffic, weather, incidents, and closures.
Estimates are derived from reviewed origin/destination coordinates using the same documented distance-to-time heuristic as the Washington pilot (circuity factor and assumed effective speed by corridor type and period), then deliberately widened and rounded to a broad band. No live routing or traffic API was called. Two methodology differences from the Washington pilot, both disclosed: each place uses a single Census TIGER internal point as its representative origin rather than three job-weighted directional sample origins, and work destinations are selected from Delaware's own place-to-place LODES flow file rather than block-level clustering—out-of-state commute flows (aggregated to the Pennsylvania/Maryland/New Jersey state level in that source) are excluded because a state has no single routable coordinate.
Estimates reviewed 2026-09-12. Starting point: Bethel representative point.
These are bounded inventories, not measures of access, enrollment, foot traffic, or the full local business economy. People routinely use services across place lines.
Care, errands, food, fitness, and personal services gathered into one browsable directory.
Counts reflect current directory records associated with the city, not a complete business census or a measure of access. Large categories show a sample.
Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), snapshot 2026-08-13; Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-08-19.0; U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (NPPES NPI Registry), snapshot 2026-09-12.
Institution counts and enrollment remain separate. A school can serve students from outside the place, and residents may attend a school across the boundary or elsewhere in their district.
None in the current FirstMap place-boundary match.
None in the current FirstMap place-boundary match.
None in the current FirstMap place-boundary match.
Public-school names and grade levels come from Delaware Department of Education / Delaware FirstMap ↗.
Only geocoded records matched inside the boundary are counted. A license record does not establish an operating storefront or complete business inventory.
Source: de business licenses · 2026 ↗.
State House and Senate districts are drawn independently of municipal boundaries, so a place can span more than one district per chamber.
April 4, 1907
Source: Wikipedia, "List of municipalities in Delaware," citing Delaware Public Archives Town and City HistoriesReflects the current Delaware FirstMap district snapshot; a vacancy, resignation, or mid-term appointment can lag this by a few weeks.
Source: Delaware General Assembly / City of Wilmington, via Delaware FirstMap, checked 2026-09-12.
Delaware has no single statewide directory of every town's mayor, council, and meeting schedule the way Washington's MRSC covers all 82 cities there, so Metroscope does not yet show a roster for Bethel. Its official town site is the current-best source for that.
Delaware runs one statewide emergency notification system, not a separate one per place; cell phones aren't enrolled automatically. Sign up for Delaware emergency alerts (DEMA) ↗