54,337 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.5% since 2020)
468 square miles of land · 116 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 Worcester County in the area they serve, reporting 61,238 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| TOWN OF OCEAN CITY groundwater · local government · MD0230003 | 30,000 served |
| OCEAN PINES groundwater · local government · MD0230005 | 11,890 served |
| MYSTIC HARBOUR groundwater · local government · MD0230011 | 5,945 served |
| TOWN OF BERLIN groundwater · local government · MD0230001 | 4,500 served |
| CITY OF POCOMOKE CITY groundwater · local government · MD0230006 | 4,100 served |
| TOWN OF SNOW HILL groundwater · local government · MD0230007 | 2,409 served |
| RIDDLE FARM groundwater · local government · MD0230019 | 500 served |
| NANTUCKET POINT(DISTRIBUTION-DELAWARE) buys groundwater · local government · MD0230020 | 500 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 123 people were held in Worcester County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 400 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 298.
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 Worcester County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $172.2 million — $154.9 million to run schools, about $22,643 per student, plus $14.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $129 million local (mostly property tax), $34.4 million state, $20.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.9 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 Worcester County about $25.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
82 bridges in Worcester County: 24 in good condition, 56 fair, and 2 poor (2.4%). “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.
| HOTEL ROAD over CAREY BRANCH · built 1989 | 110 vehicles a day |
| FLEMING MILL ROAD over DIVIDING CREEK · built 1974 | 90 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $19.6 million of work in Worcester County in fiscal 2025, about $374 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 Worcester 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 Worcester County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Maryland: the state government and every county in Maryland.
Nearby counties: Wicomico County (20 mi) · Sussex County, DE (31 mi) · Somerset County (31 mi) · Accomack County, VA (40 mi) · Dorchester County (42 mi) · Caroline County (53 mi).