Jeffrey Gentry

The News Journal

If you had to pick the best areas in Delaware to live – the general area must have a population over 5,000 – what would be your top three?

OK. Got your three in mind?

Now let's see how ours matches up to the Top 10 list put together by Movoto, an online real estate brokerage based in San Mateo, California.

Movoto took the 19 places it determined had at least 5,000 residents – I'm not sure why nothing in the Brandywine Hundred area is included – and ranked them based on the following criteria: total amenities; quality of life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income and student-to-teacher ratio); total crimes; tax rates; unemployment; commute time; and weather (temperature and air quality).

Movoto's Top 10:

1. City of Newark

2. City of Dover

3. (tie) Hockessin and City of New Castle

5. Pike Creek

6. (tie) Town of Elsmere and Edgemoor

8. (tie) Glasgow, Wilmington Manor and North Star

Newark earned the top spot based on its amenities and overall quality of life. Movoto also noted the city's low crime rate, saying "it's easy to see why students, families, and people from all walks of life find Newark so desirable."

Dover came in at No. 2 for "its low commute time, low unemployment rate and high number of amenities." While people living in places like Middletown and North Star have daily commute times that average over 30 minutes, Dover's average of just 21 minutes is one of the shortest in the state.

Besides Dover, downstate places didn't get much respect in Movoto's numbers driven ranking system. Georgetown, Milford and Seaford came in at 14, 16 and 17, respectively.

Finishing 19th and earning Movoto's ranking as the least desirable place to live in Delaware – drumroll please – Wilmington.

Though it finished at the top of the rankings for its amenities, Delaware's largest city was at or near the bottom of the rankings in quality of life, taxes and crime.

Wilmington can't really be that bad.

Can it?

Share in the Only in Delaware conversation 24/7 on delawareonline. Contact Jeffrey Gentry at jgentry@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeffreygentry