Delaware has more registered businesses than residents
- 2,287,728 business entities registered
- 66% of the Fortune 500 incorporated here
- The Court of Chancery — a business court since 1792
- The First State — ratified the Constitution first, 1787
How Delaware’s digital economy grew
The First State
Delaware ratified the US Constitution on December 7, 1787, becoming the first of the thirteen states to do so — the reason every Delaware license plate still reads “The First State.”
Why two-thirds of the Fortune 500 are incorporated here
Delaware has 1,059,952 residents and 2,287,728 registered business entities — more than two for every person who lives here. It’s the legal home of roughly two-thirds of the Fortune 500 and close to seven in ten of the companies that went public in the US in 2025, according to the state’s own Division of Corporations.
None of that is an accident. The Court of Chancery, a specialised business court that traces back to Delaware’s 1792 constitution, has built up more than two centuries of case law on corporate disputes — judges rather than juries decide, which gives boards and their lawyers a level of predictability that’s hard to find in any other state. The General Corporation Law, passed in 1899, adds rules most states don’t offer: a single person can be a company’s sole shareholder, director and officer, with no requirement to live in — or ever visit — Delaware.
A materials-science cluster with two centuries of history
Delaware’s business story isn’t only paperwork. Éleuthère Irénée du Pont opened a gunpowder mill on the Brandywine Creek near Wilmington in 1802, and the company he founded grew into one of the world’s largest chemical makers. Its chemistry research seeded a real materials-science cluster that’s still active on the same stretch of the Delaware River today.
DuPont
Founded 1802 in Wilmington. Now focused on healthcare, water and industrial materials, with around 15,000 employees.
Chemours
Spun off from DuPont in 2015. NYSE: CC, headquartered in Wilmington, around 5,700 employees.
W.L. Gore & Associates
Founded 1958 in Newark by Bill and Genevieve Gore. Best known for Gore-Tex fabric.
The First State, by geography as well as name
Delaware ratified the US Constitution on December 7, 1787 — first of all thirteen states, which is why every license plate still reads “The First State.” It’s the second-smallest state by land area and has only three counties, fewer than anywhere else in the country, yet ranks sixth nationally for population density. Wilmington is the largest city at 70,635 people; Dover, the capital, has 38,079.
How Delaware businesses buy websites
Most of Delaware’s 2.29 million registered entities are paperwork — a registered agent address, not a storefront. The businesses that actually need a website are the ones serving Delawareans directly, from Wilmington law and financial-services firms to Main Street shops in Dover, Newark and the beach towns further south.
Legal & professional services
A state built on corporate law has no shortage of firms serving it directly. Being specific about practice areas and credentials matters more here than almost anywhere else.
Trades and home services
New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties cover very different ground — say plainly which towns and counties you actually serve.
Clinics, salons and studios
Online booking is table stakes; a page that loads fast on a phone matters in the beach towns during summer tourist season.
Shops and hospitality
Rehoboth Beach and the other shore towns see huge seasonal swings — hours and seasonal info need to be easy to update.
How well do you know Delaware’s digital economy?
4 quick questions. Get all 4 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
Delaware quiz · 1 of 4
Roughly how many business entities are registered in Delaware, against a population of about 1.06 million?
Why FastSites works here
A state whose entire economy runs on clear, dependable paperwork is a state that appreciates a website that just works. A clear one-page site, live in days, at a published price, fits the way Delaware already does business.
Built to name the county or town you actually serve — because in a state this small, being specific about location is what separates a real local business from a registered-agent address.