33,138 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.9% since 2020)
541 square miles of land · 61 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.
12 active community water systems list Dorchester County in the area they serve, reporting 20,321 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CITY OF CAMBRIDGE WATER groundwater · local government · MD0090002 | 15,000 served |
| TOWN OF HURLOCK groundwater · local government · MD0090005 | 2,150 served |
| TOWN OF VIENNA groundwater · local government · MD0090008 | 573 served |
| TOWN OF SECRETARY groundwater · local government · MD0090007 | 535 served |
| TOWN OF EAST NEW MARKET groundwater · local government · MD0090004 | 400 served |
| BONNIE BROOK groundwater · local government · MD0090001 | 390 served |
| LODGECLIFFE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM buys groundwater · private · MD0090009 | 300 served |
| BAY COUNTRY MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · MD0090219 | 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 93 people were held in Dorchester County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 476 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 135.
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 Dorchester County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $103.3 million — $96.5 million to run schools, about $21,340 per student, plus $6.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $23.3 million local (mostly property tax), $61.8 million state, $18 million federal. Long-term debt: $15.6 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 Dorchester County about $15.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
47 bridges in Dorchester County: 7 in good condition, 35 fair, and 5 poor (10.6%). “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.
| ELLIOTT ISLAND RD over ELLIOTT CREEK · built 1970 | 204 vehicles a day |
| NEW BRIDGE ROAD over CHICAMACOMICO RIVER · built 1981 | 184 vehicles a day |
| BESTPITCH FERRY RO over WINDMILL ISLAND CREEK · built 1982 | 105 vehicles a day |
| BESTPITCH FERRY RD over TRANSQUAKING RIVER · built 1946 | 93 vehicles a day |
| BACK LANDING ROAD over HUNTING CREEK · built 1941 | 0 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $15.6 million of work in Dorchester County in fiscal 2025, about $480 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 Dorchester 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 Dorchester County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Maryland: the state government and every county in Maryland.
Nearby counties: Wicomico County (23 mi) · Talbot County (23 mi) · Somerset County (27 mi) · Calvert County (27 mi) · St. Mary's County (30 mi) · Caroline County (33 mi).