Laurel, Delaware

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Laurel-Delmar census division. It lies in ZIP code area 19956. It stands on Cooper Branch. The Survey maps it on the Laurel quadrangle. 3,865 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.

Laurel within Sussex County

On record in Laurel

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 15 shown

Chipman Potato Houselisted 1990
Chipman's Milllisted 1978
Hearn Potato Houselisted 1990
Laurel Historic Districtlisted 1988
Old Christ Churchlisted 1972
Phillips Potato Houselisted 1990
Rider Potato Houselisted 1990
Ross Point Schoollisted 2001
Spring Gardenlisted 1982
Stanley Potato Houselisted 1990
Collins Potato Houselisted 1990
E. L. Hitch Potato Houselisted 1990

Every listing in Sussex County

Population over time

2 figures

Laurel grew from 3,708 to 3,865 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	3,708
2020	3,865	+157 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 20 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1915 USGS Seaford quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
1944 USGS Seaford quadrangle1:62500
1946 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1947 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000
1948 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000
1955 USGS Laurel quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1957 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000
1961 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS Salisbury quadrangle1:250000
1984 USGS Seaford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1992 USGS Laurel quadrangle1:24000

Storms near this place

34 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Laurel in 34 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 20 thunderstorm wind, 7 heavy rain, 4 hail, 2 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2001	Lightning	Laurel	1 hurt	no account filed
July 2005	Lightning	Laurel	$75,000	no account filed
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	$30,000	Additional wind damage east of the path of the tornado was noted continuing eastward towards Laurel. This was the result of straight-line winds associated with the rear-flank downdraft which also caused the loss of all of the metal roofing on one commercial building as well as the partial loss of metal roofing on another commercial building in Laurel as well as additional tree damage south of Chipman Pond.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Large tree split and snapped along Woodland Ferry Road right next to the Laurel Little League fields. Time estimated from radar.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Trees and wires were blown down around Laurel.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Tree damage reported on Beaver Dam Rd. near Laurel. Time estimated from radar.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Report of trees down in wires. Time estimated via radar.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Numerous trees and wires down across Laurel, DE. Time estimated from radar.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Multiple trees were downed onto wires causing power outages. Time estimated from radar.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Tree limbs were downed in Laurel due to strong outflow winds from an approaching thunderstorm. Time based on the report and radar.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A section of a tree snapped off and fell onto power lines. A large tree was also uprooted. Time estimated from radar.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A tree and large limbs were reported down near Laurel.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph estimated in Laurel.
August 2019	Hail	Laurel	-	Hail up to penny size was reported in Laurel.
July 2017	Flood	Laurel	-	Flooding reported on Front and Poplar streets.
July 2017	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Just over four inches of rain fell.
July 2017	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Almost six inches of rain fell. DEOS.
April 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	Thunderstorms associated with a strong cold front moving across the area during the late evening hours on the 2nd and early morning hours on the 3rd produced wind gusts which blew a tree into a house in Laurel.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Four and a quarter inches of rain fell.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Almost five inches of rain fell.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Just over four inches of rain fell.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Just over 3 inches of rain fell.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Laurel	-	Just over 4 inches of rain fell.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A severe thunderstorm knocked down several trees in Laurel.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A severe thunderstorm knocked down a couple of trees in Laurel.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A severe thunderstorm knocked down trees in Laurel.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	A severe thunderstorm knocked down a couple of trees and wires in Laurel and Bethel. A large tree was knocked down across Main Street in Bethel. About 400 homes and businesses lost power in Sussex County.
May 2022	Hail	Laurel	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Laurel	-	no account filed
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	no account filed
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	no account filed
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	no account filed
July 2002	Hail	Laurel	-	no account filed
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Laurel	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sussex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Woodland Heights	0.5 miles	20
Laurel Creek	0.6 miles	20
Lakeside Manor	0.6 miles	20
Pusey Development	0.8 miles	20
Hollywoods Park	1.1 miles	20
Lake Pines	1.2 miles	20
Dogwood Acres	1.6 miles	20
Hearns Crossroads	2.0 miles	20

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Laurel	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q755128	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 214203. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.