Hunger in Talbot County, Maryland is real.
We live in one of the wealthiest counties
In The Nation.
Imagine not being able to feed your children. Imagine being a senior citizen and having to choose between rent, medications or food. Imagine working all day, maybe multiple jobs and coming home to an empty refrigerator. For families already living paycheck to paycheck, even small increases in food, rent or medicine can push them into crisis.
In Talbot County, many of the people in need are working, and still struggling to make ends meet. How can working people still not afford a basic essential like food?
Talbot County may appear prosperous on the surface, but that prosperity has masked a growing population struggling to not only make ends meet, but to also eat.
Did you know?
61% of TCPS students receive free or reduced school meals (TCPS)
15 percent of Talbot children are food insecure. (Feeding America)
14.5% of our children live below the poverty line. (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
12.6 % of all Talbot County residents use SNAP (Talbot DSS)11 percent of county residents are food insecure. (Feeding America)
11 percent of county residents are food insecure. (Feeding America)
6% of our seniors live below the poverty line (welfareinfo.org)
According to MIT Living Wage Calculator, $40,646 is needed for a single person or $92,262 for a family of 4 to live in Talbot County
But, keep reading…
Economics?
A full-time worker earning Maryland’s $15 hourly minimum wage brings in about $31,000 a year. Even at $20 per hour, that is still only $41,280 a year.
According to Zillow, the average rental rate in Talbot County is approximately $2,255 to $2,297 per month. Rental rates for 1-bedroom units start around $1,656, while 2-bedroom units average around $2,047 to $2,157 per month. The average Rent in Easton: ~$2,500.
The standard rental formula is for a person to earn 4.3 times the monthly rental rate, to be qualified for most rental properties. The annual household income, based on those numbers, would need to be at least $85,450 (1brdm) to $129,000 (Easton average rent).
For many, a roof over their head comes first. Where their next meal is coming from is often a question with no easy answer.
Did you know?
Despite a low unemployment rate of 3.3%, hunger remains deeply rooted among working families, seniors, and those on fixed incomes, including the disabled.
Nearly 30% of Talbot County's population is aged 65 and older. The highest percentage in Maryland. 6% to 9% of our seniors live below the poverty line.(welfareinfo.org).
An even larger segment of Talbot’s population of seniors live on fixed incomes (such as Social Security or pensions). Food insecurity is also a part of their reality, due to the the high cost of living and housing.
Nationwide, about 50% of people aged 65 or older live in households that receive at least 50% of their income from Social Security.
Are there resources? YES!
Although there are only 38,000 people in Talbot County, meal and food providers are fighting the persistent problem of hunger.
Each week, nine food pantries and three meal providers across the county serve nearly 3,000 people, totaling food services of 12,000 a month and 144,000 a year.
The cost of operating larger pantries can reach $8,000 to $10,000 monthly, straining budgets even as community fundraisers like Talbot County Empty Bowls, which raised $42,000 in February 2025, offer critical support.
Hunger by the Numbers, December 2025
These holiday distributions were in addition to the hundreds of meals and bags of groceries that pantries provide every week, as regular services continued uninterrupted throughout the season.
St. Vincent de Paul of Easton served 426 families, representing 1,331 individuals, the highest number reported by any pantry.
The Neighborhood Service Center provided full holiday meals to 160 families, while St. Mark’s Church served 104 families.
Smaller pantries played an equally vital role, including Tilghman Helping Hands, which served 46 families, and Royal Oak Methodist Church, which supported 25 families.
