Easton, Maryland
Area Profile
17,308 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Easton, in Talbot County.
Easton ranks in the top 5% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.5% and median household income of $74,653.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 106 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 152% on the prior year.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Easton in the top 14% for physical resilience.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 84% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment grew 2.0% over the past year, to 17,827 employed residents.
38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 79% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$6,181 | $74,653 | Top 40%of 29,573 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$3,995 | $44,905 | Top 24%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 11.0% | Top 50%of 31,900 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 22.1 min | Bottom 26%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 38.0% | Top 21%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 17,827 | Bottom 21%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 6.2% | Top 4%of 3,903 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 2.0% | Top 5%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 18,482 | Bottom 20%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 59.5% | Bottom 46%of 31,933 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Bottom 24%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.5% | Bottom 16%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Talbot County, MD, which contains this city.
Schools
How it’s calculated →6% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 20% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 13.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easton High | Talbot County Public Schools | 1,179 | 16.6 | — | — |
| Easton Elementary | Talbot County Public Schools | 1,075 | 11.1 | 9% | 19% |
| Easton Middle | Talbot County Public Schools | 703 | 12.6 | 3% | 22% |
67.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Maryland’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,197 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 4.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 4.81 | Top 17%of 28,473 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 64.4% | Bottom 27%of 31,843 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±291 | 7,946 | Top 8%of 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$174 | $1,197 | Top 33%of 23,432 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$14,819 | $358,900 | Top 22%of 29,342 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 19.2% | Top 46%of 23,201 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 7.4% | Bottom 40%of 32,001 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 17,381 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 6.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 30°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 44.0 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 44.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 30°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 86°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 43°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, drought and coastal flooding.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 78% of measured US cities.
Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, winter weather, ice storm, cold wave, tornado, inland flooding, landslide, hail.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.
Easton's police department reported 493 violent offences per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,640.
Talbot County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 11.4 per 100,000 residents in Talbot County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.
Offences are reported to the FBI by Easton’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Talbot County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Easton rather than Easton itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Taxes
- Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 42 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall | BWI | 42 mi | 10,503 ft |
| Washington Dulles Intl | IAD | 76 mi | 11,500 ft |
| Philadelphia Intl | PHL | 88 mi | 12,000 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| safety | Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency | 2025 calendar year | Annually, with monthly revisions |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.
ZIP codes in Easton
1 published ZIP profiles| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21601 | 24,671 | $83,680 | 75 |