Updated August 2026

Best beaches in Delaware by water quality

Delaware has 25 public beaches in the EPA monitoring dataset, 24 of them with enough bacteria samples to grade. 11 earn an A for consistently clean water, while 4 grade an F for frequently exceeding the safe-swimming limit. Full ranking below.

A 11

B 2

C 4

D 3

F 4

Grade	Beach	County	% over limit	Samples	Advisory
A	Key Box Road Beach (Delaware Seashore State Park)	Sussex	0%	129	Excellent
A	Ocean Beach Near Gordons Pond (Cape Henlopen State Park)	Sussex	0%	89	Excellent
A	Rehoboth Beach - Queen Street	Sussex	0%	89	Excellent
A	South Indian River Inlet Beach (De Seashore State Park)	Sussex	0%	86	Excellent
A	Dewey Beach - Swedes Street	Sussex	0.4%	256	Excellent
A	Lewes Beach South (Johnnie Walker Beach)	Sussex	0.9%	232	Excellent
A	South Bethany Beach	Sussex	1.1%	95	Excellent
A	Fenwick Beach	Sussex	1.3%	226	Excellent
A	Cape Henlopen Main Beach (Cape Henlopen State Park)	Sussex	2.3%	261	Excellent
A	North Indian River Inlet Beach (De Seashore State Park)	Sussex	2.4%	167	Excellent
A	Rehoboth Beach - Virginia Avenue	Sussex	2.6%	266	Excellent
B	Deauville Beach (Cape Henlopen State Park)	Sussex	3.3%	90	Good
B	Lewes Beach North (Savannah Beach)	Sussex	5.5%	217	Good
C	Prime Hook Beach	Sussex	7.6%	92	Fair
C	Fenwick Island State Park Beach	Sussex	9.8%	307	Fair
C	Conquest Road Beach (Delaware Seashore State Park)	Sussex	10.3%	263	Fair
C	3 R's Road Beach (Delaware Seashore State Park)	Sussex	11.7%	145	Fair
D	Holt's Landing	Sussex	16.9%	354	Poor
D	Broadkill Beach	Sussex	18.7%	187	Poor
D	Bethany Beach	Sussex	19.8%	278	Poor
F	Rehoboth Beach - Rehoboth Avenue	Sussex	28.2%	39	Failing
F	Tower Road Beach - Oceanside (De Seashore State Park)	Sussex	31.6%	263	Failing
F	Dewey Beach - Dagsworthy Street	Sussex	32.1%	56	Failing
F	Slaughter Beach	Sussex	35.5%	279	Failing

CSV

Download the full Delaware beach safety ranking

All 24 graded Delaware beaches with their Beach Safety Grade, exceedance rate, sample counts, and program status — from EPA monitoring data. Enter your email to download; you'll also get swim-advisory alerts. A grade is a multi-year classification, not a same-day safety clearance.

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