Dorchester County vs Garrett County

A side-by-side comparison of Dorchester County and Garrett County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Dorchester County has the higher population (32,612 vs 28,713 in Garrett County). Garrett County has the higher median household income ($69,031 vs $60,495 in Dorchester County). Dorchester County has the higher median home value ($252,300 vs $217,000 in Garrett County).

Population, income & housing

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
Population	32,612	28,713
Median age	43.9 yrs	48.1 yrs
Median household income	$60,495	$69,031
Median home value	$252,300	$217,000
Median gross rent	$959	$710
Housing units	16,416	18,567
Homeownership rate	66.3%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	24.6%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
Population	32,138 → 32,612 (+1.5%)	29,235 → 28,713 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$52,917 → $60,495 (+14.3%)	$52,617 → $69,031 (+31.2%)
Median home value	$183,300 → $252,300 (+37.6%)	$173,900 → $217,000 (+24.8%)
Median gross rent	$879 → $959 (+9.1%)	$614 → $710 (+15.6%)

Dorchester County

Population

32,13832,612

Median household income

$52,917$60,495

Median home value

$183,300$252,300

Median gross rent

$879$959

Garrett County

Population

29,23528,713

Median household income

$52,617$69,031

Median home value

$173,900$217,000

Median gross rent

$614$710

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
Under 5	5.4%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.8%	13.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.5%	12.8%
55 to 64	15.3%	16.3%
65 to 74	13.4%	13.6%
75 and over	9.2%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
White (non-Hispanic)	61.0%	95.1%
Black or African American	25.3%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	1.4%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.9%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	1.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
No high school diploma	13.2%	10.1%
High school graduate	40.1%	39.7%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
Drove alone	81.4%	77.0%
Carpooled	9.3%	8.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.7%
Walked	1.4%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.7%	11.1%
Other means	0.6%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
1-unit, detached	75.0%	78.9%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	2.2%
20 or more units	3.5%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	8.9%

Poverty & households

	Dorchester County	Garrett County
Poverty rate	16.3%	11.0%
Average household size	2.41	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	27	24
Median year structure built	1973	1981