Caroline County vs Worcester County

A side-by-side comparison of Caroline County and Worcester County: population, income, housing, and more.

Caroline County and Worcester County are counties in Maryland. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Worcester County has the higher population (53,279 vs 33,406 in Caroline County). Worcester County has the higher median household income ($81,455 vs $66,368 in Caroline County). Worcester County has the higher median home value ($348,100 vs $272,400 in Caroline County).

Population, income & housing

	Caroline County	Worcester County
Population	33,406	53,279
Median age	39.8 yrs	50.7 yrs
Median household income	$66,368	$81,455
Median home value	$272,400	$348,100
Median gross rent	$1,070	$1,180
Housing units	13,516	56,585
Homeownership rate	71.9%	76.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.6%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Caroline County	Worcester County
Population	33,049 → 33,406 (+1.1%)	51,765 → 53,279 (+2.9%)
Median household income	$58,638 → $66,368 (+13.2%)	$63,499 → $81,455 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$202,500 → $272,400 (+34.5%)	$262,200 → $348,100 (+32.8%)
Median gross rent	$895 → $1,070 (+19.6%)	$1,035 → $1,180 (+14.0%)

Caroline County

Population

33,04933,406

Median household income

$58,638$66,368

Median home value

$202,500$272,400

Median gross rent

$895$1,070

Worcester County

Population

51,76553,279

Median household income

$63,499$81,455

Median home value

$262,200$348,100

Median gross rent

$1,035$1,180

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Caroline County	Worcester County
Under 5	6.2%	4.0%
5 to 17	17.5%	13.2%
18 to 24	7.9%	6.7%
25 to 34	11.9%	9.7%
35 to 44	12.5%	10.2%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.6%
55 to 64	14.7%	16.4%
65 to 74	10.2%	16.0%
75 and over	6.9%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Caroline County	Worcester County
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	78.5%
Black or African American	13.2%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	8.8%	3.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Caroline County	Worcester County
No high school diploma	16.0%	6.3%
High school graduate	39.2%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	27.3%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.2%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Caroline County	Worcester County
Drove alone	81.9%	76.4%
Carpooled	6.2%	7.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.6%
Walked	2.6%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	6.0%	11.5%
Other means	2.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Caroline County	Worcester County
1-unit, detached	75.9%	42.6%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	9.9%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	13.0%
20 or more units	1.1%	25.5%
Mobile home & other	8.4%	5.1%

Poverty & households

	Caroline County	Worcester County
Poverty rate	12.4%	8.1%
Average household size	2.70	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	31	23
Median year structure built	1981	1984