Dorchester County vs Kent County

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

Dorchester County and Kent 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 19,265 in Kent County). Kent County has the higher median household income ($74,402 vs $60,495 in Dorchester County). Kent County has the higher median home value ($307,100 vs $252,300 in Dorchester County).

Population, income & housing

	Dorchester County	Kent County
Population	32,612	19,265
Median age	43.9 yrs	48.4 yrs
Median household income	$60,495	$74,402
Median home value	$252,300	$307,100
Median gross rent	$959	$1,144
Housing units	16,416	10,326
Homeownership rate	66.3%	72.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	37.9%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dorchester County	Kent County
Population	32,138 → 32,612 (+1.5%)	19,536 → 19,265 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$52,917 → $60,495 (+14.3%)	$58,598 → $74,402 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$183,300 → $252,300 (+37.6%)	$249,900 → $307,100 (+22.9%)
Median gross rent	$879 → $959 (+9.1%)	$1,007 → $1,144 (+13.6%)

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

Kent County

Population

19,53619,265

Median household income

$58,598$74,402

Median home value

$249,900$307,100

Median gross rent

$1,007$1,144

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dorchester County	Kent County
Under 5	5.4%	4.0%
5 to 17	15.8%	11.6%
18 to 24	6.9%	12.0%
25 to 34	11.3%	10.3%
35 to 44	11.3%	9.0%
45 to 54	11.5%	10.7%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.5%
65 to 74	13.4%	15.3%
75 and over	9.2%	11.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dorchester County	Kent County
White (non-Hispanic)	61.0%	76.1%
Black or African American	25.3%	14.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dorchester County	Kent County
No high school diploma	13.2%	8.2%
High school graduate	40.1%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	21.2%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	18.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dorchester County	Kent County
Drove alone	81.4%	70.8%
Carpooled	9.3%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	1.0%
Walked	1.4%	8.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.7%	10.3%
Other means	0.6%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dorchester County	Kent County
1-unit, detached	75.0%	80.3%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	5.0%
20 or more units	3.5%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Dorchester County	Kent County
Poverty rate	16.3%	9.5%
Average household size	2.41	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1973	1977