Cecil County housing market
Cecil County occupies Maryland’s northeastern corner, meeting Pennsylvania along its northern line and Delaware along its eastern one, with the head of the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Susquehanna River to the south. It has about 106,000 residents and roughly 44,700 housing units, and the I-95 corridor runs straight through it between Baltimore and Wilmington.
- $413,000Median list price↓ 10.5% year over year
- 49Median days on market
- 241Homes actively listed↑ 11.6% year over year
- $90,199Median household income
Market data period: August 2026. Median list price, median days on market and active listing count: Realtor.com residential listings data for Cecil County, Maryland, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Year-over-year comparisons use August 2025. Median list price reflects asking prices on active listings, not sale prices. A separately supplied housing-market report card dated 26 September 2026 gives a median home value of $392,393, a median of 58 days on market and 246 active listings.
- $362,900Median value, owner-occupied
- 73.3%Homeownership rate
- $1,296Median gross rent
- 106,305County population
Population, median household income, median owner-occupied home value, homeownership rate and median gross rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates for Cecil County, Maryland. These are survey estimates and carry margins of error. A separately supplied report card dated 26 September 2026 gives a median household income of $98,795 and resident-based shares of 76% homeowners and 18% renters.
Long-run price trend
Measured by the Federal Housing Finance Agency All-Transactions House Price Index for Cecil County, home prices rose an average of about 5.8% a year over the ten years to 2025, and about 8.5% a year over the five years to 2025 — the fastest five-year pace of any county covered on this site. That index runs through 2025 and captures the run-up; the August 2026 listing figures above capture the cooling that followed. Long-run averages describe past periods. They are not a forecast, and past appreciation does not guarantee future appreciation.
Two things stand out in the numbers above, and they pull in different directions.
The first is that Cecil County is the most affordable market covered on this site by the standard measures: a median household income of about $90,199 against a median owner-occupied home value of about $362,900. The second is that asking prices have fallen sharply over the past year — the median list price in August 2026 was down about 10.5% on a year earlier, the steepest year-over-year decline of any county covered here. Active listings were up about 11.6%, and the median time on the market was 49 days, unchanged from a year before.
That sits oddly against the long-run trend, which has been strong: the Federal Housing Finance Agency index shows Cecil County prices rising an average of about 8.5% a year over the five years to 2025, the fastest in the cluster. The explanation is mostly one of timing. The FHFA index runs through 2025 and captures the run-up; the listing data is from August 2026 and captures the cooling that followed. Both are true, and neither on its own describes the market a buyer walks into today.
What the housing-market forecast projects
The supplied Cecil County report card includes a five-year price forecast built from a current median home value of $392,393. This is a projection produced by a third-party forecasting model. It is not a guarantee, not a promise of any particular outcome, and not an investment return. Actual home values may rise or fall.
Based on the supplied housing-market forecast, forecast models project the following path:
| Point in forecast | Projected median value | Cumulative change from today |
|---|---|---|
| Today | $392,393 | — |
| Year 1 | $410,647 | +4.65% |
| Year 2 | $426,166 | +8.61% |
| Year 3 | $442,120 | +12.67% |
| Year 4 | $458,506 | +16.85% |
| Year 5 | $474,575 | +20.94% |
The difference between the starting figure and the year-five figure is about $82,182. No buyer should plan on receiving that amount. It describes a modelled path for a county median rather than an outcome for any individual property, and a home only realises a price change when it is actually sold, into whatever market exists at that time.
The report card puts the forecast at an average of about 4.19% a year. For comparison, it gives Cecil County’s own historical averages as 5.03% a year over five years, 4.13% over ten years and 4.2% over 63 years.
Those historical figures differ materially from the independent record. The Federal Housing Finance Agency index for Cecil County shows about 8.5% a year over the five years to 2025 and 5.8% over ten years — substantially higher than the report card’s 5.03% and 4.13%. The two are measuring different things over different windows, and this page publishes both rather than choosing between them. Neither guarantees future appreciation. What both agree on is that the forecast above projects a slower pace than the county’s recent past, so the model is not simply extending the last five years forward.
Affordability, supply and who is renting
The supplied report card gives Cecil County an affordability index of 130. As the report explains it, an index of 100 means a household earning the median income can afford the median home price with 20% down, so a reading above 100 indicates more room between local incomes and local prices than that benchmark requires.
That figure depends on which median income is used. The report card calculates it from a Cecil County median household income of $98,795. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the county’s median household income at $90,199 for 2024. A lower income assumption produces a lower index, so read 130 as one model’s estimate rather than a fixed fact. The direction — that Cecil County prices sit comfortably relative to local incomes — holds on either figure.
On supply, the report card counts about 257 homes being built per year in the county. That is consistent with what the Census data shows about the housing stock: Cecil County has been adding homes steadily, and nearly half of everything standing today went up in 2000 or later.
The report also estimates that of roughly 26,000 renters in the county, about 6,500 could afford to purchase at current prices. Those counts are based on residents rather than households, which is why they differ from the Census Bureau’s household-level homeownership rate of 73.3% used in the snapshot above.
Featured Cecil County real estate agents
Maryland Homebuyer Hub maintains a free directory of local professionals serving Maryland homebuyers. Featured agents work in Cecil County and have completed a full profile with us.
Agents are listed free of charge. Featured describes participation and visibility on Maryland Homebuyer Hub, not a ranking or endorsement.
Explore Cecil County homebuying professionals
Buying a home involves more people than an agent and a lender. These are the categories Maryland Homebuyer Hub is building out for Cecil County.
- Real Estate Agents
- Home Inspectors
- Title & Settlement
- Homeowners Insurance
- Moving Companies
- Home Services
Buying a home in Cecil County
Cecil County has the newest housing stock of any county covered on this site. About 48.3% of its homes were built in 2000 or later, and only about 23.6% predate 1980. Around 6.7% dates from before 1940, concentrated in the county’s older river and canal towns.
The mix of housing types is broader than the county’s rural reputation suggests. About 65.2% of units are single-family detached homes, roughly 11% are attached, about 17.9% sit in multifamily buildings, and about 5.9% are mobile or manufactured homes — a notably larger share than in the other counties covered here, and one with real consequences for financing. Homeownership runs at about 73.3% of occupied units, with median gross rent around $1,296.
Working across a state line is common here
Cecil County borders Delaware and Pennsylvania, and many residents commute across one line or the other. Where you work affects what you keep. Maryland has reciprocal income tax agreements with Pennsylvania and several other jurisdictions, but not with Delaware, so a Maryland resident working in Delaware generally files a Delaware non-resident return and claims a credit on their Maryland return. This is a question for a tax professional rather than a lender, but it belongs in your budgeting, because a mortgage is qualified on gross income while a household actually lives on net.
Manufactured homes are financed differently
With roughly 5.9% of the county’s housing in mobile or manufactured homes, this comes up more often in Cecil County than elsewhere in Maryland. Financing generally depends on whether the home is titled as real property and permanently affixed to land you own, and loan programs set their own requirements covering foundation type, age and construction standards. A home on leased land in a community is a different transaction again. Establish how a specific property is titled before you get far into an offer.
Well and septic across the rural county
Public water and sewer follow the towns and the developed I-95 corridor. Across the county’s farmland and its northern and eastern reaches, private wells and on-site septic systems are common. Neither is covered by a standard home inspection: well yield and water quality, and septic tank and drainfield condition, each need separate evaluation, and some loan programs apply their own standards to private systems.
A newer stock, and active building
With nearly half the county’s homes built since 2000, new and recent construction is a realistic option here. Builder contracts work differently from resale contracts — deposits, timelines, change orders, warranty terms and builder lender incentives all have their own rules, and a builder contract is generally less negotiable. Have your own representation read it. Many newer communities also carry association dues, which count toward your debt-to-income ratio and reduce what you can borrow.
Waterfront brings extra steps
Cecil County has shoreline along the head of the Chesapeake Bay, the Susquehanna and Elk rivers and the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Maryland’s Critical Area law applies to land within 1,000 feet of tidal waters and tidal wetlands, governing how much of a lot may be developed and limiting clearing near the water. Separately, where a property sits in a designated Special Flood Hazard Area, a federally backed mortgage generally requires flood insurance, and that premium counts toward your debt-to-income ratio. Confirm both with the county and an insurer early.
Where you buy on this map matters for reasons beyond price. The I-95 corridor around Elkton and North East puts Wilmington and Newark, Delaware within a short drive and Baltimore within a longer one. The county’s north around Rising Sun and Fair Hill is farmland and rolling country close to the Pennsylvania line. The southern end toward Cecilton and Earleville is quieter and further from the interstate. Commute, housing type, community preferences, price range, property characteristics and the ongoing costs of ownership are all worth weighing together.
Down payment assistance for Cecil County buyers
Eligible Cecil County homebuyers may have access to multiple homeownership programs. The supplied program search identified 23 programs and assistance options of up to $37,584, depending on the program, loan amount and borrower eligibility.
Read that maximum carefully. Most of the larger programs below calculate assistance as a percentage of your loan amount, not as a flat sum, so the dollar figure shown represents a maximum-loan scenario rather than an amount any particular buyer receives. Your own figure would be that percentage of your actual loan. No buyer is entitled to the maximum, and assistance is not guaranteed.
Featured programs
| Program | Type | How it is calculated | Supplied maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland Mortgage Program HomeStart 6% Loan | Combined assistance | Up to 6% of total loan amount | Up to $37,584 |
| Maryland SmartBuy 3.0 Down Payment and Closing Cost Assistance | 2nd mortgage | Up to 6% of total loan amount | Up to $37,584 |
| MMP 1st Time Advantage 5% Loan | Combined assistance | Up to 5% of total loan amount | Up to $31,320 |
| MMP 1st Time Advantage 4% Loan | Combined assistance | Up to 4% of total loan amount | Up to $25,056 |
| Maryland SmartBuy 3.0 | Combined assistance | Up to 15% of purchase price | Up to $25,000 |
| MMP 1st Time Advantage 3% Loan | Combined assistance | Up to 3% of total loan amount | Up to $18,792 |
| MMP Flex 3% Loan | Combined assistance | Up to 3% of total loan amount | Up to $18,792 |
Maryland SmartBuy is the state’s program for buyers carrying student debt, and it works differently from the others: the assistance is tied to paying off student loan debt as part of the purchase. The two SmartBuy entries above are separate components rather than alternatives.
Additional programs identified
The supplied search also returned the following. These are generally smaller or more narrowly targeted, and several are partner-match programs that require an employer, builder or community partner to participate:
- MMP 1st Time Advantage 6000 — up to $6,000
- MMP Flex 6000 — up to $6,000
- Builder/Developer Incentive Program (BDIP) — up to $2,500
- Community Partner Incentive Program (CPIP) — up to $2,500
- House Keys 4 Employees (HK4E) — up to $2,500
- CBC Mortgage Chenoa Fund — FHA forgivable and FHA repayable options, up to 5% of purchase price
- National Homebuyers Fund — 10-year amortized option up to 5% of purchase price; forgivable/deferred option up to 3.5% of purchase price
- Click n’ Close SmartBuy — three-year forgivable and five-year forgivable options up to 3.5% of purchase price, and a repayable option up to 5% of purchase price
- Arrive Home DPA — FHA forgivable and FHA repayable options
Affordable first mortgages
The supplied data also includes two Maryland Mortgage Program first-mortgage products: MMP 1st Time Advantage Direct and MMP Flex Direct. Most of the assistance above is designed to pair with an MMP first mortgage, so the first-mortgage choice and the assistance choice are generally made together rather than separately.
No Cecil County-specific local assistance program appeared in the supplied results. The programs above are Maryland statewide or national programs available to eligible buyers purchasing in the county.
Explore Maryland down payment assistance programs · How the Maryland Mortgage Program works
Important
Down payment and homebuyer assistance programs are subject to eligibility requirements, funding availability, program guidelines and change. Maximum assistance amounts are not guaranteed, and the amount available to any individual buyer may depend on loan amount, purchase price, borrower income, the property, the mortgage program and other eligibility requirements. Programs shown are examples and are not a complete list of assistance that may be available.
Maryland Homebuyer Hub does not determine eligibility for any program and does not make mortgage loans. Some programs are available only through participating lenders. Verify current program requirements, funding and availability with the program administrator or an approved lender before making financial decisions.
Home financing resources
The loan program shapes the down payment, the mortgage insurance and the property standards a home has to meet — which in a county with widespread private wells, septic systems and manufactured housing is not a small detail.
Conventional loans
The broadest category, and the usual route for the county's substantial new construction. Low-down-payment options exist for some borrowers, and private mortgage insurance generally applies below 20% down.
FHA loans
Lower down payment and more flexible credit guidelines, with its own minimum property standards. Those standards matter here, because they cover private water and waste systems and set specific requirements for manufactured housing.
USDA loans
Zero-down financing for eligible rural areas, determined by the exact property address. Much of Cecil County lies outside the developed I-95 corridor, but eligibility cannot be assumed from the county alone — check a specific address against USDA's eligibility map.
VA loans
Zero-down financing with no monthly mortgage insurance for eligible service members, veterans and surviving spouses. Entitlement rather than income drives what you can borrow, and VA sets its own property requirements.
Renovation financing
Finances the purchase and the repairs in one loan. Relevant for the roughly 6.7% of Cecil County homes built before 1940 in the older river and canal towns, where a property may not meet a standard program's condition requirements as-is.
Learn how Maryland homebuying works
Most of what determines whether a purchase goes smoothly happens before you tour a single home. Maryland Homebuyer Hub runs a free virtual first-time homebuyer seminar covering the process end to end: mortgage pre-approval, credit and qualification, down payments, closing costs, down payment assistance, working with a real estate agent, making an offer, home inspections, appraisals and closing.
The Maryland Mortgage Program carries its own homebuyer education requirement, so for many buyers using the assistance above this is a necessary step rather than an optional one. The seminar is free and does not require you to work with anyone.
Register for a free homebuyer seminar · Read the Maryland home buying guide
Cecil County Local Professional Spotlights
Cecil County Spotlights are in production. Spotlights are recorded conversations with local professionals about the communities they serve, the buyers they work with, and what they wish first-time buyers knew earlier. They are published here as they are recorded.
Explore local professionals in Cecil County
The Cecil County professional directory is being built. Maryland Homebuyer Hub is adding local real estate agents, home inspectors, title and settlement companies, homeowners insurance professionals, movers and home service businesses county by county. Listings are free and no professional pays for placement.
Communities in Cecil County
Cecil County has eight incorporated towns, more than most Maryland counties of its size, alongside a number of unincorporated communities. Inside a town you may pay municipal property tax on top of county tax and receive municipal services; outside them, the county is your local government. Check which applies to a specific address, because it affects both the tax bill and who supplies your water and sewer.
- ElktonThe county seat and largest incorporated town, on the I-95 corridor near the Delaware line.
- North EastAn incorporated town at the head of the Chesapeake Bay on the North East River.
- PerryvilleAn incorporated town on the Susquehanna River across from Havre de Grace.
- Rising SunAn incorporated town in the county's farmland north, near the Pennsylvania line.
- Chesapeake CityAn incorporated town on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, split into north and south sides.
- Port DepositAn incorporated town built along the Susquehanna below the Conowingo Dam.
- CharlestownA small incorporated town on the North East River, laid out in 1742.
- CeciltonAn incorporated town in the county's southern end, away from the interstate.
- Elk NeckAn unincorporated peninsula between the Elk and North East rivers, adjoining Elk Neck State Park.
- Fair HillAn unincorporated area in the county's north, adjoining the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area.
- ConowingoAn unincorporated community near the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River.
- EarlevilleAn unincorporated community in the rural south of the county.
Cecil County homebuyer questions
What does a home cost in Cecil County?
The median asking price on active listings in August 2026 was about $413,000, down roughly 10.5% from a year earlier. The Census Bureau puts the median value of an owner-occupied home in the county at about $362,900, and the supplied report card gives a median home value of $392,393. Those measure different things — asking prices, the full owned stock, and a third-party model respectively — but they bracket a similar range.
Is Cecil County affordable compared with the rest of Maryland?
By the measures on this page it is the most affordable of the counties covered on this site, with a median owner-occupied home value of about $362,900. Median household income is also the lowest of those counties at about $90,199, so affordability is a relationship between the two rather than a function of price alone.
Will my home be worth $474,575 in five years?
No one can tell you that. That figure comes from a third-party forecasting model applied to a county median, and it is a projection rather than a commitment. Actual home values may rise or fall, and an individual property may perform quite differently from a county median.
How much down payment assistance can I get?
The supplied program search identified options of up to $37,584 for eligible buyers. Because the larger programs calculate assistance as a percentage of the loan amount, that maximum reflects a maximum-loan scenario rather than a standard award. Eligibility requirements apply to every program, funding can be limited, and no maximum is guaranteed. An approved lender can tell you what you actually qualify for.
Can I buy a manufactured home with a regular mortgage?
Often yes, but it depends on the specifics. Financing generally turns on whether the home is titled as real property and permanently affixed to land you own, and individual loan programs set requirements around foundation, age and construction standards. Homes on leased land in a community are usually financed differently. Because manufactured homes are a larger share of the stock here than elsewhere in Maryland, it is worth raising with a lender early.
I work in Delaware. Does that affect buying here?
Not the mortgage itself, but potentially your budget. Maryland does not have an income tax reciprocity agreement with Delaware, so a Maryland resident working there generally files a Delaware non-resident return and claims a credit on their Maryland return. A lender qualifies you on gross income; your household budget runs on what lands in the account. Speak to a tax professional about your own situation.
Has the market softened?
On the listing measures, yes over the past year: asking prices down about 10.5%, active listings up about 11.6%, and the median time on market unchanged at 49 days. Over longer periods the FHFA index shows Cecil County prices rising an average of about 8.5% a year over the five years to 2025 and about 5.8% a year over the ten years to 2025. Past averages describe what happened; they are not a forecast.
Sources and data notes
Median list price, median days on market and active listing count come from Realtor.com residential listings data for Cecil County, Maryland, retrieved from FRED at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, for August 2026 with August 2025 as the year-earlier comparison. Median list price reflects asking prices on active listings, not closed sale prices.
Population, median household income, median owner-occupied home value, homeownership rate, median gross rent, housing unit counts, units-in-structure shares and year-built shares come from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates for Cecil County, Maryland. These are survey estimates and carry margins of error.
Long-run appreciation figures are calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency All-Transactions House Price Index for Cecil County, Maryland.
The median home value of $392,393 and the five-year price forecast, including all projected values and percentages, come from a housing-market report card supplied for this page. That report is a third-party product and its forecasts are model outputs, not guarantees. The report card is dated 26 September 2026. Its other figures — a median of 58 days on market, 246 active listings with a year-over-year increase of 18%, a population of about 106,000, roughly 80,000 homeowners and 26,000 renters, a median household income of $98,795, an affordability index of 130, about 257 homes built per year, and historical appreciation of 5.03% over five years, 4.13% over ten and 4.2% over 63 — are reproduced where noted above. Where the report and the government sources differ, this page publishes both. The report gives 58 days on market against 49 in the Realtor.com data, 246 active listings against 241, a median household income of $98,795 against the Census figure of $90,199, and homeowner and renter shares calculated on residents rather than on occupied households as the Census Bureau reports them. Its five- and ten-year historical appreciation averages are also materially lower than the FHFA index values quoted above.
Down payment assistance program names, types, calculation methods and maximum amounts come from a homeownership program search supplied for this page. Program terms, funding availability and eligibility requirements change; verify current details with the program administrator or an approved lender before relying on them.
This page is educational information about the Cecil County housing market and available homebuyer programs. It is not an offer of credit, a commitment to lend, a determination of eligibility for any program, or a prediction of future home values.