Dorchester County, Maryland

Dorchester County population, land area and income

Dorchester County had 33,138 residents in the Census Vintage 2024 estimate, on 540.8 square miles of land. It ranks 21st of 24 in Maryland by population and 4th by land area. That works out to 61.3 people per square mile, below the US average of 96.3, and above the national county median.

The median county-equivalent in Maryland has 111,399 residents, so Dorchester County has 30% of the typical county's population.

Its SAIPE 2023 median household income of $63,087 is above the national county median among 3,143 counties with an estimate.

How Dorchester County's population changed since 2020

Dorchester County gained 615 residents between the July 2020 and July 2024 estimates, a rise of 1.9%. That ranks 16th of 24 in Maryland for growth. The median Maryland county changed by +2.1%, and the state as a whole by +1.4%.

Since the April 2020 estimates base, Dorchester County recorded 1,496 births and 1,949 deaths, a natural change of -453. Net international migration added +105 and net domestic migration, people moving to or from other US counties, came to +933. The largest single component was domestic migration, which added 933 people.

Where Dorchester County is

The Census internal point of Dorchester County is at 38.429200, -76.047400. It sits in UTM zone 18N. The map shades Maryland's 24 county-equivalents by population change from 2020 to 2024, darker for faster growth, with Dorchester County outlined. Dots are towns of 1,000+ people with residents in it.

Towns in Dorchester County

2 incorporated places of 1,000+ people have residents in Dorchester County, 15,355 people together, or 46% of the county. Each figure counts only the part of the town inside Dorchester County; towns marked "part" extend into another county. The largest is Cambridge with 13,262.

Counties bordering Dorchester County

The Census 2024 county adjacency file lists 7 neighbors for Dorchester County, including 1 across a state line. The most populous is Sussex County, DE, with 271,134 residents. Distances run between Census internal points in a straight line.

• DE

  Sussex County, DE

  271,134 people

  42 mi ENE

• St. Mary's County

  116,469 people

  30 mi WSW

• Wicomico County

  106,329 people

  23 mi E

• Calvert County

  94,913 people

  27 mi WNW

• Talbot County

  38,244 people

  23 mi NNW

• Caroline County

  34,248 people

  33 mi NNE

• Somerset County

  25,241 people

  27 mi SSE

Distance to Annapolis and the nearest big city

Annapolis is 44.9 miles NNW of Dorchester County's internal point in a straight line. The nearest place of 100,000 or more is Washington, DC (population 702,250), 61.7 miles away. The nearest place of 10,000 or more is Cambridge, MD (population 13,262), 8.8 miles away.

Dorchester County FIPS code

The FIPS code of Dorchester County is 24019: state code 24 for Maryland plus county code 019. Use it as text, with the leading zero, when joining Census, BLS, or CDC county tables. SAIPE lists its 2023 median household income as $63,087.