Daria is the brains of the family Morgendorffer, even though she doesn't share with the rest. She is cynical (well, okay, realistic), pessimistic, and has a dim view of humanity. She is one of the 'unpopular' and proud of it. She gets straight As at school, and has even been offered a look at a local exclusive private boarding school. She's also the one her family goes to in a crisis, and generally the only one really capable of handling it.

She reads a lot more than is typical for a high-school student, to the point of getting special assignments in English when she's already read the books the rest of the class get assigned. All the teachers seem to use her as their lifelines, and whenever the rest of the class is stumped, Daria's the one they go to for an actual answer, although they don't always get quite what they expect.

Daria is now dating Tom Sloane, which caused a lot of trouble in her friendship with Jane, as well as a lot of disbelief among the few classmates who know of their relationship.