Dorchester County vs Talbot County

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

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

Talbot County has the higher population (37,707 vs 32,612 in Dorchester County). Talbot County has the higher median household income ($84,378 vs $60,495 in Dorchester County). Talbot County has the higher median home value ($398,300 vs $252,300 in Dorchester County).

Population, income & housing

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
Population	32,612	37,707
Median age	43.9 yrs	51.1 yrs
Median household income	$60,495	$84,378
Median home value	$252,300	$398,300
Median gross rent	$959	$1,248
Housing units	16,416	19,671
Homeownership rate	66.3%	72.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	41.3%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
Population	32,138 → 32,612 (+1.5%)	37,167 → 37,707 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$52,917 → $60,495 (+14.3%)	$73,547 → $84,378 (+14.7%)
Median home value	$183,300 → $252,300 (+37.6%)	$336,800 → $398,300 (+18.3%)
Median gross rent	$879 → $959 (+9.1%)	$1,116 → $1,248 (+11.8%)

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

Talbot County

Population

37,16737,707

Median household income

$73,547$84,378

Median home value

$336,800$398,300

Median gross rent

$1,116$1,248

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
Under 5	5.4%	4.2%
5 to 17	15.8%	14.5%
18 to 24	6.9%	5.6%
25 to 34	11.3%	10.1%
35 to 44	11.3%	9.4%
45 to 54	11.5%	11.5%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.2%
65 to 74	13.4%	15.4%
75 and over	9.2%	14.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
White (non-Hispanic)	61.0%	74.2%
Black or African American	25.3%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	1.4%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.9%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	9.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
No high school diploma	13.2%	8.0%
High school graduate	40.1%	23.5%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	27.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	23.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
Drove alone	81.4%	72.7%
Carpooled	9.3%	7.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.6%
Walked	1.4%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.2%
Worked from home	6.7%	14.3%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
1-unit, detached	75.0%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	6.4%
20 or more units	3.5%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Dorchester County	Talbot County
Poverty rate	16.3%	10.2%
Average household size	2.41	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	27	26
Median year structure built	1973	1982