We asked Chad GBT what are the top 10 reasons that you should want to move to Delaware in 2023. Number 10: Delaware has a vibrant art and theater scene with venues like the Grand Opera House and the Delaware Theater Company. This is a fair number 10 because Milford, Milton, Lewis, and Wilmington have tons of beautiful art museums from canvas museums to abstract to photorealism. There’s a lot of different options and as far as theater goes, there’s a bunch of different small local town theaters as well as some Off-Broadway shoots to get brought up to Wilmington.
Number 9: Delaware’s business-friendly environment. Delaware’s business-friendly laws, LLC tax haven, and policies make it a top choice for new startups and businesses. This is an absolute fact. ESPN, Tesla, Disney, I could go on and on for days are incorporated in Delaware. You can honestly register your LLC online with Delaware and have it done by the end of the day. So for small businesses alike, Delaware absolutely is business-friendly.
Number 8: Farmers markets and local produce sellers. Delaware’s agricultural scene offers a fantastic array of fresh local produce and homemade goods through delightful local farmers markets. Milford, Dover, Lewis, and many different beach towns and up north, Wilmington, Newark, Hockessin, with farmers markets and local produce, just having the ability to, in a farm-known state, get fresh produce, fruit, veggies, plants, flowers. There’s a lot of different venues and different planned weekly events for produce and locals farmers or local farmers markets.
Number 7: Delaware festivals. Delaware’s vibrant cultural scene is reflected in its numerous festivals, such as the Firefly Music Festival, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. Maybe, maybe not, it’s definitely awesome for those that like it. If you’ll rock with a music festival and they bring everything from rockers to rappers to EDM artists, then you would love the four-day event of Firefly. But we also have the Sea Witch Festival, the Tequila and Taco Festival, the Jazz Festival, the Ladybug Festival in Milford, and a lot of different festivals. Not just Firefly, I don’t think it’s a reason to move to Delaware or a reason you should live in Delaware, but it’s definitely a bonus because you’re gonna find something that attracts you or that’s attractive to you.
Number 6: Food and breweries. Delaware’s local food scene and breweries like Dogfish Head are popular attractions. Not only am I cool with this being on the list, I think it should be ranked higher if not for Delaware’s simple proximity to other states. Great food down in the beach area, of course, you’re getting high-end sushi, seafood, steakhouse, as well as the hole-in-the-wall joints where you can get a great drink and a cheeseburger. That’s kind of what you’ll see all across the state, a good mixture of really solid date night spots and also just the casual dining late-night bar experience type places that are gonna leave you wanting to come back.
Number 5: Outdoor recreation. Delaware state parks, hiking trails, and waterways offer ample opportunities for boating, fishing, and other outdoor activities. Delaware does have a lot of small niche spots as well as coastal areas. Not all of it’s beach, we have some nature trails, some places that are specifically protected for marine wildlife, and those areas are very hard to find across our East Coast in America. So it’s cool that we have spots like that, but as far as hiking and heights go, we’re one of the flattest states in the entire country. So unless you’re an avid fisher, outdoor activities probably isn’t going to be high on the list if you’re looking to live elsewhere.
Number 4: Ease of access. Delaware’s convenient location near major cities like New York, Philly, and Washington DC makes for easy weekend trips. Delaware’s proximity to Philly, to Jersey, to New York City, to Williamsburg, Virginia, Ocean City, and Maryland, Baltimore, Annapolis, so much is within a day, if not a couple hours’ drive that gives you access to different food, different vacation spots, job locations. Some people work at the Pentagon and live in Middletown, Delaware. So the ease of access or the central location is such an under-ranked item for Delaware, even by Chad GBT in my opinion because I think it should be higher.
Number 3: Beach life. Delaware’s gorgeous beach towns like Rehoboth, Dewey, Lewis, and others are popular summer getaways. Not just summer getaways, they are year-round getaways. Shopping, food, entertainment, the locals love these areas and might love them most when travelers aren’t there. The summer brings traffic and packed beaches, so the Delawareans in the fall and in the spring tend to come out most of these beach towns and they are great. This easily could be one or two as well, but coming in at number three, the beach lifestyle is the bomb. Whether you want to live at the beaches or you just want to have a weekend getaway every now and then, it’s a really solid option and one that a lot of people are retiring to and getting secondary homes.
Number 2: Historical richness. Delaware is packed with history as the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Delaware has a lot to stand on from William Penn to Caesar Rodney. There’s a whole gamut of people that we’ve referenced, but as far as living in or moving to Delaware, should that be a reason that you do so? I don’t believe so. We have a lot of great items you can go and see, items landmarks you can go and see, such as the lighthouses down through Bethany Beach. You could also go up north to the Moore’s area, the beautiful libraries and gardens, the historic AI Dupont formerly owned and currently owned buildings, as well as Fort Delaware. There’s a lot historically involved in Delaware and how the beaches came to be and how Milford was once one of our greatest export towns. There’s a lot to dig into, but as far as moving to Delaware, I wouldn’t put it on your list.
Number 1: Low taxes. Delaware is one of the few states with no sales tax, so no shopping tax. We also have one of the lowest property tax ratios in the entire country, bringing our average yearly property tax per household to about $1300 to $1350 per year. We also, as we’ve mentioned before, are one of the best LLC formation states in the country, with our business and corporation taxes being drastically low. We have no lodging tax, meaning that if you have a short-term rental, Airbnb vacation home, you rented out, the state isn’t going to come for any of your profits. So if you’re thinking of living in Delaware because you don’t want to pay taxes, you’ve probably picked the right place. But that is Chad GBT’s version of what we feel are the top 10 reasons you should move to Delaware in 2023. What do you think? How did we do?
