Wilmington, DE

Wilmington (Lenape: Paxahakink / Pakehakink) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Wilmington was named by Proprietor Thomas Penn after his friend Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, who was prime minister during the reign of George II of Great Britain.

As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city’s population was 70,898. The Wilmington Metropolitan Division, comprising New Castle County, Delaware, Cecil County, Maryland and Salem County, New Jersey, had an estimated 2016 population of 719,887. Wilmington is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan statistical area, which also includes Philadelphia, Reading, Camden, and other urban areas, which had a 2020 population of 6,228,601, representing the seventh largest metropolitan region in the nation.