Cecil County vs Charles County

A side-by-side comparison of Cecil County and Charles County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Charles County has the higher population (168,710 vs 104,366 in Cecil County). Charles County has the higher median household income ($120,592 vs $91,146 in Cecil County). Charles County has the higher median home value ($402,300 vs $311,800 in Cecil County).

Population, income & housing

	Cecil County	Charles County
Population	104,366	168,710
Median age	40.8 yrs	38.8 yrs
Median household income	$91,146	$120,592
Median home value	$311,800	$402,300
Median gross rent	$1,367	$1,897
Housing units	44,159	63,053
Homeownership rate	75.3%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.9%	31.6%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cecil County	Charles County
Population	102,552 → 104,366 (+1.8%)	159,428 → 168,710 (+5.8%)
Median household income	$76,887 → $91,146 (+18.5%)	$100,003 → $120,592 (+20.6%)
Median home value	$242,700 → $311,800 (+28.5%)	$313,300 → $402,300 (+28.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,126 → $1,367 (+21.4%)	$1,682 → $1,897 (+12.8%)

Cecil County

Population

102,552104,366

Median household income

$76,887$91,146

Median home value

$242,700$311,800

Median gross rent

$1,126$1,367

Charles County

Population

159,428168,710

Median household income

$100,003$120,592

Median home value

$313,300$402,300

Median gross rent

$1,682$1,897

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cecil County	Charles County
Under 5	5.7%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.7%	18.2%
18 to 24	7.8%	8.3%
25 to 34	12.6%	12.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.6%
45 to 54	13.5%	14.2%
55 to 64	15.1%	14.2%
65 to 74	10.4%	8.1%
75 and over	6.2%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cecil County	Charles County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.4%	33.5%
Black or African American	6.9%	48.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	1.3%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.5%	6.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	7.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cecil County	Charles County
No high school diploma	8.5%	5.7%
High school graduate	35.8%	30.1%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	17.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.9%	13.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cecil County	Charles County
Drove alone	76.1%	72.8%
Carpooled	9.6%	7.4%
Public transit	0.5%	3.9%
Walked	1.8%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.4%	14.2%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cecil County	Charles County
1-unit, detached	72.0%	70.6%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	19.4%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	6.5%	4.3%
20 or more units	2.9%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Cecil County	Charles County
Poverty rate	10.9%	6.6%
Average household size	2.56	2.78
Mean commute (minutes)	29	43
Median year structure built	1987	1990