Delaware Franchise Opportunities

Small but mighty, Delaware is known as The First State—having been the first state to ratify the Constitution. These days, Delaware is home to a little less than a million people, and one of the largest Air Force bases in the country.

City Selection

If you decide to move to Delaware, you won’t have too many options on where to live—there are only three counties in the whole state! Consider checking out Wilmington, the largest city with 70,000 residents; Dover, the state capital; or Newark, home to the University of Delaware.

Interesting Industries

Some of the main industries in Delaware include banking, healthcare, pharmaceutical, technology and agriculture. In addition, many people work in the government and in education. There are also lots of military personnel around due to the Dover Air Force Base.

Corporation Law

More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies are incorporated in Delaware because the state’s business-friendly corporation laws.

However, there are still franchise taxes—in fact, they make up a fifth of the state’s revenue. In addition, Delaware has a corporation income tax and a tax on limited liability companies, limited partnerships and general partnerships.

There is also a personal income tax that ranges between 2.2 and 6.6 percent based on your earnings.

Bars, Beware

If you’re thinking about opening any kind of franchise that sells or serves alcohol, you should know that you will need a special license to do so, and that drinks and booze can only sold between 9 a.m. and 1 a.m. Until 2003, Delaware also followed blue laws that banned the sale of alcohol on Sundays.