34,248 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.9% since 2020)
319 square miles of land · 107 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
19 active community water systems list Caroline County in the area they serve, reporting 13,269 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| TOWN OF DENTON groundwater · local government · MD0050001 | 4,848 served |
| TOWN OF FEDERALSBURG groundwater · local government · MD0050002 | 2,450 served |
| TOWN OF GREENSBORO groundwater · local government · MD0050003 | 1,878 served |
| TOWN OF RIDGELY groundwater · local government · MD0050006 | 1,600 served |
| TOWN OF PRESTON groundwater · local government · MD0050005 | 750 served |
| CAROLINE ACRES MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · MD0050204 | 395 served |
| BENEDICTINE SCHOOL groundwater · private · MD0050201 | 300 served |
| CEDAR MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · MD0050205 | 300 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 45 people were held in Caroline County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 214 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 52.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Caroline County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $105.8 million — $98.5 million to run schools, about $17,385 per student, plus $4.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $24 million local (mostly property tax), $76.2 million state, $15 million federal. Long-term debt: $18.6 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Caroline County about $12.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
70 bridges in Caroline County: 19 in good condition, 44 fair, and 7 poor (10.0%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| OLD DENTON ROAD over FAULKNER BRANCH · built 1963 | 2,799 vehicles a day |
| FRAZIER NECK ROAD over LITTLE CREEK · built 1994 | 1,015 vehicles a day |
| DOUBLE HILL ROAD over WATTS CREEK · built 1913 | 570 vehicles a day |
| SMITHVILLE ROAD over SULLIVAN BRANCH · built 1946 | 561 vehicles a day |
| BLOOMERY ROAD over MARSHYHOPE CREEK · built 1951 | 540 vehicles a day |
| LONG SWAMP ROAD over SULLIVAN BRANCH · built 1953 | 108 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $14.8 million of work in Caroline County in fiscal 2025, about $446 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Maryland are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Caroline County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Caroline County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Maryland: the state government and every county in Maryland.
Nearby counties: Queen Anne's County (18 mi) · Talbot County (20 mi) · Kent County, DE (24 mi) · Sussex County, DE (30 mi) · Kent County (30 mi) · Dorchester County (33 mi).