Dover, Delaware is the closest major city to Dover AFB. It has about 37,000 people, and is in Kent County, which has a population of about 163,000 people. Other nearby small communities include Smyrna and Millford, and many other smaller towns.

It is about 5 miles from downtown Dover to Dover AFB; this takes about 10 minutes to commute. The average commute in Kent County is about 25 minutes.

Major local employers are the State of Delaware, Kent County, Dover AFB. Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods have factories here, and a number of people employed at ILC Dover, a high-tech flexible fabric manufacturer, live in Dover instead of Frederica, where the company is based.

Local Housing Rental Prices: The average apartment rent in the Dover area ranges from $525 to $850 per month, with a median of $750 per month.

Local Housing Purchase Prices: The average price for a house in Dover is about $186,000, compared to $250,000 for Delaware. The average price for a house in Kent County is about $210,000.

Short Description of the Area: Dover is the capital of Delaware and state's second largest city, but is relatively small and compact. Delaware overall is a generally rural state, with much of the population living outside cities. Dover is roughly centrally located in Delaware, just north of the state's center line, and has fairly easy access to the more urban northern Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC, southern New Jersey, and southeastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Delaware is the second smallest state in the USA, and one of the flattest, with mixed farmland, light woodland, and shallow wetland.

Climate and Weather: The area has a warm, humid climate, winter temperatures in the low 40s to high 20s and summer temperatures of the high 80s to high 60s. The area has mild weather overall with warm to hot summers and cool mild winters. Summers can be humid and hot. Winters have moderate snow starting in December and peaking in February. Rainfall is fairly even year-round.

Transportation: The state of Delaware is served by DART First State, which has bus lines in Dover.