If you thought Sussex County was essentially a haven for retirees, think again: it’s attracting many younger workers, drawn in part by the services demanded by the older cohort, plus lower housing costs than in many other parts of the East Coast, and great beaches.
That’s the conclusion of a new survey by Site Selection Magazine, a national publication that annually ranks states, cities and counties for their attractiveness for business.
It found that between 2020 and 2024, the number of 25-44 year olds moving to Sussex County grew by almost 5,000 as more discovered they can work remotely in an attractive environment where property taxes are relatively low, and where some of their retired parents can watch young children because they live nearby.
“In Sussex County, beaches and access to Chesapeake Bay have helped attract thousands of younger adults since the pandemic, driving most of the state’s growth in its population aged 25-44,” said Ron Starner, Executive Vice President of Site Selection Magazine, at a business leaders’ conference at Delaware Tech in October.
One younger worker is Olivia Riek, 23, from New York City who moved to Sussex County after her parents relocated there two years ago. After spending many weekends visiting them, Riek and her boyfriend decided to move to Lewes, encouraged by the beaches, the boardwalk, the shops and the outdoors.
But they quickly discovered how hard it was to get to and from Sussex County without a car, so they started Lewes Bus, which goes twice a day to Philadelphia International Airport, and became the county’s first airport shuttle service.
“Moving here made sense both personally and professionally,” Riek wrote in an email. “The growth is undeniable in Sussex County, and it’s clear why. The beautiful beaches, proximity to major cities like Philadelphia and New York, and the active lifestyle are a few of the many reasons it’s such a great place to live. With growth comes opportunity - especially for service-based businesses.”
Andrew Harton, director of economic development for Sussex County,said the Site Selection report was the first national publication he had seen to pay attention to the local demographic changes, but he said he had been seeing anecdotal evidence of the growth of a younger population for about five years.
“Yes, retirees are moving here in droves; you can see that because our median age has been going up since 2010,” Harton said. “But all those new people require services like more healthcare facilities, retailers and accountants. They pull in businesses that are staffed by younger people.”
Workers in, say, their 30s are increasingly attracted to Sussex County because of its relatively low housing costs relative to many other areas of the East Coast, and perhaps because they know the area after previously vacationing there with their families, Harton said. That familiarity may have led parents to retire in the county, potentially drawing their children who might try to cut high child-care costs by getting their parents to watch the kids sometimes.
“A lot of what makes Sussex County very attractive for retirees also makes it attractive for people who are still at work,” Harton said. “It’s low property taxes in comparison to surrounding states, plus access to beaches and parks.”
The national rise in remote working also allows younger workers to take advantage of lower housing costs in Sussex County and elsewhere in Delaware. “If you’re working remotely in Philadelphia, you can move to Delaware and effectively give yourself a raise,” he said.
WalletHub, a personal finance company, this year named Delaware the best state in the country to work remotely, reflecting its good broad-band connections, and relatively spacious homes, facilitating home working.
Some 13 percent of the Delaware work force work from home, WalletHub reported in April, and virtually all have the potential to do. The state has the third-lowest internet cost and the ninth-highest access to broad-band. The state also has the fifth-biggest homes in the country, at an average of 2,277 square feet, the survey found.
“The common narrative is that retirees are moving to Sussex County, but that doesn’t account for the fact that Sussex County has the most job growth.”Andrew Harton, Sussex County director of economic development
More evidence of the growth in the working population in Sussex County came with the Delaware Department of Labor’s economic report for 2024, showing the county added 2,500 jobs last year, led by manufacturing, with a gain of 700 jobs. That amounted to 2.7 percent growth over 2023, well ahead of 0.8 percent for Kent County and 0.6 percent for New Castle County.
“The common narrative is that retirees are moving to Sussex County, but that doesn’t account for the fact that Sussex County has the most job growth,” Harton said. He also noted Sussex was the only Delaware county with no job losses in any category in 2024.
While Sussex may be generating more jobs than Kent and New Castle Counties, it shares some economic virtues with the state as a whole, the Site Selection survey found.
Delaware had the sixth-largest increase of any U.S. state in incomes for workers aged 25-44 over the past five years. And for residents under 25, the state had the largest income increase in the country.
“Delaware is one of the most attractive states in the country for talent,” Starner told the DelTech conference. “By several measures, Delaware looks more demographically like Florida, Texas or the Mountain West states than the rest of the Northeast.”
He also cited Delaware’s lack of a sales tax; its income tax rates that are competitive with most of its neighbors, and a “relatively healthy” mix of industries.
But overall, Delaware was rated a lowly 41st out of 50 states for overall business climate, as determined by factors including utilities, ease of permitting, transportation infrastructure, workforce skills, and quality of life.
The Site Selection data was based on research from Hamilton Lombard of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, who found that, like Sussex County, Delaware as a whole has attracted and retained many younger workers.
“The state's central location and low cost of living helped domestic migration to the state rise over the 2010s from higher cost metro areas in the region,” Lombard wrote in an analysis. “By 2019, twice the number of people were moving to Delaware than in the early 2010s. Migration to Delaware spiked during the pandemic and last year remained higher than in 2019.”
For Delaware Prosperity Partnership, a public-private economic development group, the younger workforce moving into Sussex County is part of a statewide phenomenon driven by lower costs and a better quality of life than in some other parts of the Northeast.
“It offers a lifestyle that a lot of young people are looking for so when there’s great opportunity and great quality of life, that’s a winning combination,” said Becky Harrington, interim CEO of the nonprofit.
DPP has been seeing the increase in younger workers to Sussex County since it was set up in 2017, and noticed a surge during Covid when many workers left urban areas and started to work remotely in rural areas including Delaware.
“During 2020, a lot of folks moved to the beach because they were able to work remotely, along with attracting the 55 and older community,” Harrington said.
The incomers include 36-year-old Chris Kelly, Director of Economic Research at DPP, who moved to Delaware from northwest Pennsylvania to attend graduate school at the University of Delaware almost 14 years ago. He stayed, and now lives with his wife, a teacher originally from Long Island, NY in Magnolia, Kent County.
“My wife and I came to Delaware from out of state because of economic opportunity, and we stayed because we like to live here,” he said. “If you can get someone a job right out of college, that’s a good indication that they are going to stay there.”
