Which Maryland counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 23 Maryland counties we have scored, Kent County scores highest at 98 and Dorchester County lowest at 74. Maryland ranks 5th of 50 overall, at 92 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Buildability separates its counties most: 1 to 10 out of 10.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 23 counties · 198 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsMaryland ranks 5th of 50, 92 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #2 and #11. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Maryland, best score first

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Kent → 70 people / sq mi	98	25	19	14	15	15	10
Talbot → 141 people / sq mi	97	25	19	14	15	15	9
Caroline → 105 people / sq mi	96	25	19	14	15	14	9
Harford → 605 people / sq mi	96	25	18	14	15	15	9
Baltimore → 1412 people / sq mi	95	24	19	14	15	14	9
Cecil → 305 people / sq mi	95	25	18	14	14	15	9
Frederick → 444 people / sq mi	95	25	19	13	15	14	9
Howard → 1339 people / sq mi	95	25	18	14	15	14	9
Montgomery → 2146 people / sq mi	95	25	19	14	15	14	8
Queen Anne's → 141 people / sq mi	95	25	19	14	14	13	10
Calvert → 444 people / sq mi	94	24	18	14	15	14	9
Charles → 376 people / sq mi	94	23	19	14	15	13	10
Prince George's → 1963 people / sq mi	94	24	19	14	14	14	9
Worcester → 116 people / sq mi	94	25	19	14	14	13	9
Carroll → 395 people / sq mi	93	25	19	13	15	13	8
St. Mary's → 322 people / sq mi	93	23	18	14	15	13	10
Anne Arundel → 1433 people / sq mi	92	25	18	14	14	13	8
Washington → 340 people / sq mi	92	24	19	13	15	13	8
Garrett → 44 people / sq mi	88	24	19	12	14	11	8
Allegany → 159 people / sq mi	87	25	18	12	15	11	6
Somerset → 78 people / sq mi	86	23	19	14	11	13	6
Wicomico → 280 people / sq mi	86	23	19	14	11	12	7
Dorchester → 61 people / sq mi	74	23	18	14	7	11	1

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

92% of Maryland's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Kent, Talbot and Caroline. The weakest are Dorchester, Somerset and Wicomico. Where the land falls short, it is most often on building (slope, septic and land price).

What separates them

Buildability: Kent County scores 10 of 10, Dorchester County 1. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Hazard: Kent County scores 15 of 15, Dorchester County 7. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Food: Kent County scores 15 of 15, Dorchester County 11. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.

Solar, Water and Legal barely move across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Food is Maryland's weakest dimension, at 13 of 15 for the state as a whole. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $33k to $90k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Maryland row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Maryland

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Maryland? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsMaryland: 92 of 100, 5th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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