Dover, Delaware, Recognized by Readers of Southern Living
The South’s Best Cities on the Rise 2024
March 25, 2024
By Southern Living Editors
Updated on March 6, 2024
According to the U.S. Census, the South is the place to be. Not only is it the most populous region in the country, it accounted for 87% of our country’s growth in 2023. Plus, the South is the only region that maintained population growth during the pandemic. Visit any of the places on this year’s Best Cities On the Rise list and you’ll quickly understand why.
These reader-selected cities have excellent food scenes, cool yet quaint downtown districts, incredible natural beauty, thriving arts communities, and the warmth our region is known for. And they’re not done growing. Each one has exciting new projects on the horizon, like a minor-league baseball stadium in Spartanburg, South Carolina, entertainment districts in Huntsville, Alabama and Alpharetta, Georgia, and even economic development, like electric vehicle manufacturing in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
How did we come up with the list? Southern Living editors compiled a large list of cities based on research, reporting, and our own experiences. Then, our readers selected their top picks in our annual South’s Best Awards survey. The result is a diverse mix of large and small cities, and each one has something different to offer. Whether you’re looking for a new place to live or somewhere fun to visit, you’ll find plenty of options here.
South’s Best Voting Process
An online survey was conducted by third-party agency Proof Insights among Southern Living consumers, asking them to rate their favorite places across the South for the South’s Best Awards 2024. The survey was fielded from July 12 to August 23, 2023, and had over 20,000 respondents.
25. Dover, Delaware
With a 300-plus year history, Delaware’s capital has changed quite a bit since its early days as the appointed court town for Kent County. It still houses the Delaware Supreme Court, but may be about to embark on its biggest season of change yet. In 2023, the Downtown Dover Partnership presented a redevelopment plan called Capital City 2030 that will transform the area with a proposed multimodal transportation hub, 100,000 square feet of commercial space, 20 acres of greenspace, 1,000 residential units, and a half-mile riverwalk to be built over the next decade.
Explore Southern Living’s 7 Best Things To Do In Dover, Delaware, here.
Read the rest of Southern Living’s The South’s Best Cities On The Rise 2024 here.