Cecil County, Maryland

Cecil County is a county in Maryland, United States, in the state’s northeastern corner where Maryland meets Pennsylvania and Delaware. It had a population of 103,725 at the 2020 census, an estimated 107,131 by 2024, and covers 418 square miles (1,090 km2) centred near 39°34′N 75°57′W.

Elkton is the county seat and the county’s largest town; its postal code is 21921. The county holds 8 incorporated towns and 9 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 24015.

Towns & Villages in Cecil County

Cecil County has 17 named places on record: 8 incorporated towns and 9 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. Cecil is the only county in Maryland with no census-designated place, so every community outside the eight towns has a ZIP code and a name but no population count of its own.

ZIP Codes

Cecil County has 17 ZIP codes on record: 10 that deliver to street addresses and 7 that serve post office boxes only.

• 21921 — Elkton
• 21922 — Elkton (a second, PO-box-only code)
• 21901 — North East
• 21911 — Rising Sun
• 21903 — Perryville
• 21904 — Port Deposit
• 21914 — Charlestown
• 21915 — Chesapeake City
• 21913 — Cecilton
• 21917 — Colora
• 21918 — Conowingo
• 21919 — Earleville
• 21912 — Warwick
• 21920 — Elk Mills
• 21916 — Childs
• 21902 — Perry Point
• 21930 — Georgetown

Fair Hill has no ZIP code of its own; mail addressed there is delivered under Elkton’s 21921. Georgetown, in the county’s far northeast corner near the Pennsylvania line, is a rural post office serving scattered farms rather than a town centre.

Geography

Cecil County straddles the boundary between the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, with rolling hills in the north giving way to flatter land near the Chesapeake Bay in the south. Of its 418 square miles, 346 are land and 72 are water, about 17 percent — among the higher water shares of any Maryland county, since the Susquehanna River, the Elk River and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal all cut through it. The Susquehanna forms most of the county’s western edge, the Elk River runs past Elkton to the Chesapeake, and the C&D Canal crosses Chesapeake City, splitting the town into a north and south half.

Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County and Chester County lie to the north, Delaware’s New Castle County lies to the east, Harford County sits across the Susquehanna River to the west, and Kent County lies across the Sassafras River to the south. Lancaster County, Harford County, New Castle County and Kent County all border Cecil directly; Chester County has no live profile on this site to link to.

Demographics

Cecil County had a population of 103,725 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 107,131 residents by 2024. Elkton and Perryville are the two largest communities, together holding roughly a fifth of the county’s population. Median household income runs $92,007 (2024 ACS), close to but below Maryland’s statewide figure of $98,678 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 300 people per square mile of land, a mix of the county’s small-town centres and the large farms and forests that still cover most of its area.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 5,973 people, followed by retail trade at 5,704 and manufacturing at 5,568. Perryville anchors much of the county’s newer employment: an IKEA distribution center there carries Maryland’s largest rooftop solar installation, Hollywood Casino Perryville opened in 2010 as the state’s first legal casino, and Great Wolf Lodge Maryland opened there in June 2023. Union Hospital in Elkton and Cecil County Public Schools are among the county’s largest employers outside those newer sites. Fair Hill, an unincorporated community northwest of Elkton, is home to the Fair Hill Training Center and hosts the Maryland 5 Star, a five-star eventing competition held there each year since 2021, along with the Cecil County Fair.

History

Maryland’s colonial government organised Cecil County on 6 June 1674, naming it for Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Elkton, then called Head of Elk for its position at the head of navigation on the Elk River, grew into the county seat and a landing point on the route between Philadelphia and Baltimore.

British troops under General William Howe landed at Head of Elk in August 1777 and marched north toward Philadelphia, a campaign that led to the Battle of Brandywine weeks later. In the twentieth century, Elkton earned a different reputation: Maryland set no waiting period for marriage licenses until 1938, and Elkton’s marriage bureau issued thousands of licenses a year through the 1920s and 1930s, peaking at 16,054 in 1937, making the town known nationally as an elopement destination.

Getting There

Interstate 95, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, crosses the county through Perryville, North East and Elkton; President Kennedy dedicated a section of it in 1963. US Routes 1, 40, 222 and 301 also run through the county.

• Wilmington, Delaware — about 20 miles east
• Newark, Delaware — about 15 miles east
• Baltimore — about 45 miles southwest
• Philadelphia — about 45 miles northeast

Philadelphia International Airport, about 40 miles northeast of Elkton, is the nearest major commercial airport. Perryville’s station is the northern terminus of MARC’s Penn Line commuter service to Baltimore and Washington, D.C.; the nearest Amtrak intercity stop is in Wilmington, Delaware, about 20 miles northeast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cecil County located?
It sits in Maryland’s northeastern corner, bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Delaware to the east, and Harford and Kent counties within Maryland.

What is the population of Cecil County?
103,725 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 107,131 by 2024.

How big is Cecil County?
418 square miles (1,090 km2), of which 346 square miles are land and 72 square miles are water.

What is the county seat of Cecil County?
Elkton, the county’s largest town, is the county seat.

How many towns are in Cecil County?
Eight incorporated towns — Elkton, Perryville, North East, Rising Sun, Charlestown, Chesapeake City, Cecilton and Port Deposit — plus nine unincorporated communities: Childs, Colora, Conowingo, Earleville, Elk Mills, Fair Hill, Georgetown, Perry Point and Warwick.

What ZIP codes does Cecil County use?
21921 and 21922 for Elkton, 21901 for North East, 21903 for Perryville, 21904 for Port Deposit, 21911 for Rising Sun, plus separate codes for each of the county’s smaller towns and communities.

What is Cecil County known for?
Elkton’s history as a national elopement destination in the 1920s and 1930s, the Fair Hill Training Center’s Maryland 5 Star eventing competition, and Perryville’s Hollywood Casino, Maryland’s first legal casino.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Maryland.