28,393 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.4% since 2020)
649 square miles of land · 44 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.
14 active community water systems list Garrett County in the area they serve, reporting 13,686 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DEEP CREEK LAKE WATER SERVICE AREA groundwater · local government · MD1111096 | 5,502 served |
| TOWN OF MOUNTAIN LAKE PARK groundwater · local government · MD0110007 | 3,000 served |
| TOWN OF OAKLAND surface water · local government · MD0110008 | 1,850 served |
| TOWN OF GRANTSVILLE groundwater · local government · MD0110005 | 885 served |
| TOWN OF FRIENDSVILLE surface water · local government · MD0110004 | 622 served |
| TOWN OF KITZMILLER groundwater · local government · MD0110013 | 370 served |
| BLOOMINGTON surface water · local government · MD0110002 | 350 served |
| TOWN OF ACCIDENT groundwater · local government · MD0110001 | 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 34 people were held in Garrett County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 197 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 54.
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 Garrett County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $79.1 million — $68.3 million to run schools, about $19,520 per student, plus $9.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $32.7 million local (mostly property tax), $35.6 million state, $12.5 million federal.
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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Garrett County about $5.8 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.
140 bridges in Garrett County: 28 in good condition, 96 fair, and 16 poor (11.4%). “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.
| US 219 over YOUGHIOGHENY RIVER · built 1900 | 1,660 vehicles a day |
| THIRD STREET over LITTLE YOUGHIOGHENY RIVE · built 1968 | 1,310 vehicles a day |
| STATE PARK ROAD over CHERRY CREEK · built 1970 | 655 vehicles a day |
| MAPLE GROVE ROAD over CASSELMAN RIVER · built 1926 | 413 vehicles a day |
| SANG RUN ROAD over YOUGHIOGHENY RIVER · built 1955 | 402 vehicles a day |
| FRIENDSVILLE - ADD over MILL RUN · built 1950 | 345 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $43.3 million of work in Garrett County in fiscal 2025, about $1,502 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 Garrett 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 Garrett County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Maryland: the state government and every county in Maryland.
Nearby counties: Mineral County, WV (20 mi) · Preston County, WV (22 mi) · Allegany County (31 mi) · Grant County, WV (31 mi) · Fayette County, PA (32 mi) · Somerset County, PA (33 mi).