Dorchester County, Maryland

County Distress Index: Elevated · 62.7 | 32,879 people · 3rd most distressed in Maryland

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Dorchester County, MD registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 62.7 — 636th nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Income & Poverty, where poverty rates are high and household incomes lag well behind state and national medians. Within Maryland, it ranks 3rd of 24 counties. Among its 7 neighboring counties, 6 show less distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Dorchester County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 79.0 — worse than roughly 79% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 79.0
Poverty Rate 66
Income vs. State Median 97
Child Poverty Rate 74
Debt & Delinquency 73.4
Debt in Collections 72
Medical Debt 22
Student Loan Delinquency 89
Auto Loan Delinquency 87
Credit Card Delinquency 90
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 81
Housing Cost Burden 70.5
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 77
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 69
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 69
Homeownership Rate 81
Rent-to-Income Ratio 56
Employment & Wages 51.5
Unemployment Rate 64
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 60
Business Formation Rate 31
Community Vulnerability 39.1
Uninsured Rate 22
Disability Rate 56

Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed. The median line is shown on each bar.

Neighbors and Peers

How Dorchester County compares to its 7 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Dorchester County
Dorchester County, MD 62.7 Elevated
Somerset County, MD 65.5 Serious +2.8
Wicomico County, MD 59.3 Elevated -3.4
Caroline County, MD 59.2 Elevated -3.5
Sussex County, DE 46.3 Normal -16.4
Talbot County, MD 44.0 Normal -18.7
St. Mary's County, MD 33.5 Healthy -29.2
Calvert County, MD 32.6 Healthy -30.1

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Dorchester County
Monroe County, TN 62.7 Elevated +0.0
Freestone County, TX 62.7 Elevated +0.0
Eastland County, TX 62.7 Elevated -0.0
Saline County, IL 62.7 Elevated +0.0
Polk County, AR 62.8 Elevated +0.0

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