Frederick County, Maryland

Etymology

The namesake of Frederick County and its county seat is unknown, but it was probably either Frederick, Prince of Wales, or Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore.

History

Frederick County was created in 1748 by the Province of Maryland from parts of Prince George's County and Baltimore County.

In 1776, following US independence, Frederick County was divided into three parts. The westernmost portion became Washington County, named after George Washington, the southernmost portion became Montgomery County, named after another Revolutionary War general, Richard Montgomery. The northern portion remained Frederick County.

In 1837, a part of Frederick County was combined with a part of Baltimore County to form Carroll County which is east of current day Frederick County.

The county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 667 sqmi, of which 660 sqmi is land and 7.2 sqmi (1.1%) is water. It is the largest county in Maryland in terms of land area.

Frederick County straddles the boundary between the Piedmont Plateau Region and the Appalachian Mountains. The county's two prominent ridges, Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain, form an extension of the Blue Ridge. The Middletown Valley lies between them.

Attractions in the Frederick area include the Clustered Spires, a monument to Francis Scott Key, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Monocacy National Battlefield and South Mountain battlefields, and the Schifferstadt Architectural Museum.

Adjacent counties

• Adams County, Pennsylvania (north)
• Carroll County (east)
• Montgomery County (south)
• Loudoun County, Virginia (southwest)
• Washington County (west)
• Franklin County, Pennsylvania (northwest)

National protected areas

• Catoctin Mountain Park
• Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park (part)
• Monocacy National Battlefield

Major highways

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010 2020

Frederick County has experienced a rapid increase in population since the 1980s, including that of minority groups.

Racial and ethnic composition

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 271,717. The median age was 38.7 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.5 males age 18 and over. 72.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 27.5% lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was 69.7% White, 10.2% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.0% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 5.3% from some other race, and 9.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 11.8% of the population.

There were 98,358 households in the county, of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 23.1% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 103,493 housing units, of which 5.0% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 74.6% were owner-occupied and 25.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.2%.

2010 census

At the 2010 United States census, there were 233,385 people, 84,800 households and 61,198 families residing in the county.{{cite web

Of the 84,800 households, 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 27.8% were non-families, and 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.17. The median age was 38.6 years.

The median household income was $81,686 and the median family income was $95,036. Males had a median income of $62,494 and females $46,720. The per capita income was $35,172. About 3.2% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.

Law, government, and politics

Charter government

On December 1, 2014, Frederick County changed to a "charter home rule government".

Voters approved this governmental change at the November 6, 2012, election with 62,469 voting for the transition and 37,368 against. Previously, Frederick County had been governed by a five-member county commission that could only legislate in local matters with the prior consent of the Maryland General Assembly. Even that authority was limited to areas authorized by the General Assembly, enabling legislation, or public local laws. As a charter county, Frederick County is now governed by a seven-member county council, with five elected from districts and two elected at-large. A popularly elected county executive is responsible for providing direction, supervision, and administrative oversight of all executive departments, agencies, and offices. The council has broad power to act on most local matters.

Jan Gardner was elected the first Frederick County executive in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018.

The members of the third Frederick County Council for the term beginning 2022 are:

The Frederick County state's attorney, first elected November 2, 2010, and re-elected in 2018 and 2022, is Charlie Smith, a Republican.

The sheriff of Frederick County is Republican Chuck Jenkins.

Frederick County's fire and rescue service is handled by a combination career and volunteer service delivery system. The county employs over 450 career firefighters. Volunteers of the 26 volunteer fire and rescue corporations number approximately 300 active operational members. Fire, rescue and emergency medical services, including advanced life support, are handled by career staffing supplemented by volunteers. The county has a Maryland State Police Medevac located at the Frederick Municipal Airport and is designated "Trooper 3". Trooper 3 handles calls throughout the state, but provides immediate assistance to local police, fire and rescue services.

Politics

Frederick County was once, like the rest of Appalachian and German-influenced Western Maryland, staunchly Republican, with Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 being the last Democrat to carry it in a presidential election until Joe Biden carried the county in 2020. The growth of the county with migration from Washington D.C. had begun to narrow the margins starting from 2008, with John McCain only edging out Barack Obama by only 1,157 votes out of over one hundred thousand cast in the 2008 election.

Democratic strength is mostly concentrated in the city of Frederick, whereas Republican strength is located in the northern rural regions of the county. The county's suburbs, historically Republican-leaning, have become competitive in recent years.

In state-level elections, Republicans in Frederick rebounded to more historical levels in the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial and senatorial elections, giving the Republican Ehrlich–Kane ticket 55% to Democrat O'Malley–Brown's 45. Frederick voters also supported Republican Senate challenger Eric Wargotz over incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski by a margin of 51–46, even as Mikulski was winning statewide by a landslide 61–37.

Despite its conservative reputation, Frederick County voted in favor of Maryland Question 6, which legalized same-sex marriage in Maryland. In the 2014 gubernatorial race, Republican Larry Hogan won Frederick County strongly with 63 percent of the vote compared to Democrat Anthony Brown's 35 percent. In the 2018 elections, despite increased support for Hogan, the Democrats experienced significant gains, securing a majority on the County Council and winning District 3B in the House of Delegates. The Senate election also saw incumbent U.S. Senator Ben Cardin win Frederick County with 51.7% of the vote.

After Biden's win in 2020, the trend towards Democrats continued in 2022, as Democrats increased their majority on the County Council by one seat and gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore won the county with over 53% of the vote compared to 43% for Republican and Emmitsburg resident Dan Cox, the first time Frederick County voted for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate since William Donald Schaefer's landslide victory in 1986. In the Senate election also held in 2022, incumbent Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen won the county 55.3% to 44.6% over Republican Chris Chaffee.

Public safety

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office provides court protection, jail management and morgue operation for the entire county. It provides police patrol and detective services within the unincorporated areas of Frederick County. The entire county entails a population of 222,938 within 662.88 sqmi. Frederick City, Brunswick, Mount Airy, Emmitsburg and Thurmont have municipal police departments. Middletown contracts with the Sheriff's Office for its policing.

Crime

The following table includes the number of incidents reported for each type of offense from 2012 to 2019.

Economy

The U.S. Census Bureau reported the following data for Frederick County, June 6, 2011.

According to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the following are the principal employers in Frederick County. This list excludes U.S. post offices and state and local governments, but includes public institutions of higher education.

Frederick County leads Maryland in milk production; the county's dairy herds account for one-third of the state's total. However, the dairy market is unstable, and the county, like the state more broadly, has lost dairy farms.

Communities

Cities

• Brunswick
• Frederick (county seat)

Towns

• Burkittsville
• Emmitsburg
• Middletown
• Mount Airy (partly in Carroll County)
• Myersville
• New Market
• Thurmont
• Walkersville
• Woodsboro

Village

• Rosemont

Census-designated places

The Census Bureau recognizes the following census-designated places in the county:

• Adamstown
• Ballenger Creek
• Bartonsville
• Braddock Heights
• Buckeystown
• Graceham
• Green Valley
• Jefferson
• Lewistown
• Libertytown
• Linganore
• Monrovia
• Point of Rocks
• Sabillasville
• Spring Ridge
• Urbana

Unincorporated communities

• Charlesville
• Clover Hill
• Creagerstown
• Discovery
• Garfield
• Ijamsville
• Knoxville
• Ladiesburg
• Lake Linganore
• Linganore
• Mountaindale
• Mount Pleasant
• New Midway
• Petersville
• Rocky Ridge
• Spring Garden
• Sunny Side
• Tuscarora
• Unionville
• Utica
• Wolfsville

Education

The school district for the county is Frederick County Public Schools.

A statewide school for the deaf, Maryland School for the Deaf, is in Frederick.

Notable people

Notable people from Frederick County include:

• Shadrach Bond, first governor of Illinois
• Lawrence Everhart, soldier in the American Revolutionary War
• Barbara Fritchie, Unionist subject of 1863 Civil War poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
• Thomas Johnson, delegate to First Continental Congress and U.S. Supreme Court judge
• Francis Scott Key, wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" in 1814, which became the U.S. national anthem in 1931
• Adamson Tannehill, soldier and member of the United States House of Representatives
• Roger B. Taney, fifth U.S. Supreme Court chief justice

References

References

1. "2022 Frederick County Election Results". Frederick County.
2. . (). ["Frederick County, Maryland"](https://data.census.gov/profile/Frederick_County,_Maryland?g=050XX00US24021). *[[United States Census Bureau]]*.
3. . (). ["NACo County Explorer"](https://ce.naco.org/?county_info=24021). *[[National Association of Counties]]*.
4. (2012). "Metropolitan sprawl puts urban in suburban".
5. . (April 2011). ["Update from the 2010 Census: Population Change in Suburban Maryland"](http://cra.gmu.edu/pdfs/researach_reports/recent_reports/Population_Change_in_Suburban_Maryland.pdf). *[[George Mason University]]*.
6. (March 5, 2008). "Frederick County, Maryland – Government".
7. {{NRISref. 2008a
8. "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV". U.S. Department of Commerce.
9. (August 22, 2012). "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
10. "Frederick News-Post Local Section". The Frederick News-Post.
11. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau.
12. "Census of Population and Housing from 1790-2000". [[US Census Bureau]].
13. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library.
14. "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau.
15. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau.
16. "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Frederick County, Maryland". United States Census Bureau.
17. "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Frederick County, Maryland". [[United States Census Bureau]].
18. (2021). "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)".
19. (2023). "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)".
20. (2021). "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)".
21. "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - County". United States Census Bureau.
22. "DP02 SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau.
23. "DP03 SELECTED ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau.
24. "Charter Government Transition". Frederick County, MD Government.
25. Depies, Lori. (March 18, 2013). "Charter Government and Transition: What it means to you and to Frederick County".
26. McManus, Kevin. (November 5, 2014). "Gardner Elected Frederick County's First Executive". Aloha Station Trust, LLC.
27. [https://wtop.com/local-politics-elections-news/2018/11/2018-county-election-results-in-maryland/#frederick "2018 county election results in Maryland"]. ''WTOP''. November 7, 2018.
28. (November 6, 2014). "Election Summary Report Gubernatorial General Election, Frederick County, Maryland, November 4, 2014: Summary For Jurisdiction Wide, All Counters, All Races, Unofficial Results, Early Voting, Polling Place, and Absentee 1 Canvass". Frederick County Board of Elections.
29. (November 15, 2014). "Donald takes County Council seat by 25 votes". Frederick News-Post.
30. "Maryland Board of Elections Voter Registration Activity Report November 2025".
31. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections".
32. "Election Summary Report".
33. (November 6, 2018). "2018 Maryland Election Results: Governor's race, statewide offices".
34. (November 6, 2018). "2018 Maryland House of Delegates Election Results".
35. "Maryland Election Results 2018: Live Midterm Map by County & Analysis".
36. (November 22, 2022). "Unofficial 2022 Gubernatorial General Election Results for Frederick County".
37. "Maryland Senate Midterm Election Results and Maps 2022 {{!}} CNN Politics".
38. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - State Data".
39. Frederick County Sheriff office website
40. (November 6, 2018). "2019 Frederick County Sheriff's Office Annual Report".
41. [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24021.html State & County QuickFacts, Frederick County] {{webarchive. link. (June 6, 2011 , Maryland, United States Census Bureau.)
42. [http://business.maryland.gov/Documents/ResearchDocument/MajorEmployersInFrederickCounty.pdf Major Employers in Frederick County, Maryland], Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.
43. [http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/agri.html "Maryland at a Glance: Agriculture"], ''Maryland Manual'', April 2015.
44. (October 1, 2012). "Frederick County Dairy Farm Closes Its Doors".
45. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Frederick County, MD". [[U.S. Census Bureau]].
46. "TANNEHILL, Adamson".