Delray Beach, FL — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Florida·Delray Beach

Palm Beach County · Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach · population 70,140

Delray Beach, FL
Image: Wikipedia · Delray Beach, Florida
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
54
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Delray Beach stands

Home values down 4.6% in the last year.

Median home $339,538
1-year -4.6%
5-yr CAGR +5.4%
vs 5-yr peak -10.3%
Population +1.2%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-01$340k$181k$252k$323k$394k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
40/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
90/100
Excellent for remote work
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$2,765/mo$1,820$2,376$2,932202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent130143100120140202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 10.2
Buy

At a 10.2 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Delray Beach on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 10.2 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
27 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
67 · w22%
Distance from peak
44 · w18%
Population growth
68 · w16%
Rent YoY
63 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
66 · w10%
Long thesis

Delray Beach has held up across the cycle: home values at $339,538 with +5.4% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Delray Beach is down 4.6% over the last 12 months and the trend isn't flattening. Falling knife rule applies: you don't catch one with your hands, you wait for it to hit the floor and stop moving.

About Delray Beach

Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, with an estimated population of 70,140. It anchors the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area. The population grew 1.2% annually from 2020 to 2024, a moderate gain. The median home value in Delray Beach is $339,538 as of 2026-04, down 4.6% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +5.4% annual growth, and the market currently sits about 10% below its 5-year peak. Rents in Delray Beach average $2,765 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+2.7%). The composite momentum score is 54 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Healthy 5-year run: +5.4% annualized over 5 years, outpacing US inflation.
●Net positive migration: population up 1.2% per year — demand fundamentals are intact.

▼ Bear case

●Cooling: -4.6% over the trailing year — momentum has stalled.
●10% off recent peak — buyers are getting through-the-cycle pricing, not the peak.

About Delray Beach (Wikipedia)

Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city in the Miami metropolitan area located 52 miles (83 km) north of Miami. The population of the city was 66,846 in 2020.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

NicknameDelray
Motto"Village By The Sea"
Named forDelray, Detroit

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Palm Beach County right now.

NWS active alerts (FL)Florida Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Palm Beach County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Delray Beach

51 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Palm Trail$2,894,865+6.4%
2Tropic Isle$2,590,212+3.1%
3Del-Aire$2,061,244+15.5%
4Lake Ida Park$2,026,406+5.0%
5Andover$1,611,219+7.7%
6Del Ida Park$1,558,174+10.1%
7Seacrest$992,728+1.7%
8North Palm Trail$979,612-0.5%
9Delray Lakes$949,355+5.5%
10Osceola Park$813,779+2.4%
11The Colony$774,612+3.3%
12Bass Creek$729,103+4.6%
13West Settlers$678,182+9.0%
14Sabal Lakes$656,195-1.7%
15Tropic Palms$653,556-0.5%
16Southridge$634,317+5.9%
17Lake Forest South$625,126+0.3%
18Sherwood Forest$619,790+0.1%
19Hanover$591,530+2.4%
20The Hamlet$580,019-4.8%
21Aspen Ridge$570,324-3.0%
22Rainberry Lake$497,034-4.9%
23Chatelaine$465,118+0.7%
24Monterey Lake$459,246-3.2%

See the full neighborhood ranking →

Cities like Delray Beach

Boynton Beach, FL53 · StableMargate, FL55 · StableKissimmee, FL56 · StablePompano Beach, FL55 · Stable

Run the numbers for Delray Beach

ToolCan I afford Delray Beach?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Delray Beach rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Delray Beach to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolDelray Beach cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
70° / 51°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
90° / 73°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
233
~64% of year
Annual precip
54″ rain
0″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very high
Tornado
Moderate
Wildfire
Low
Earthquake
Very low
Flood
Very high

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Delray Beach listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
76%
Very humid climate
Median household income
$67,900
Florida state median
Top industries (state-level)
TourismHealthcareConstruction

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

Cities similar to Delray Beach

Explore other places with comparable momentum or affordability.

See all Florida cities →    Browse best-of lists →