# Talbot County, Maryland: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Easton, Trappe and St. Michaels Talbot County is one of the places pushing back on the data center build-out. Talbot County is home to Easton, Trappe, St. Michaels and Oxford. The Moratorium Tracker holds 1 local measure here (1 in force); the latest is “Twelve-month moratorium on data center applications”. Construction employs 1,143, up 2.1% since 2019. 2 MW has retired here since 2019, including Easton (petroleum, 2 MW, 2023). Its power plants have 71 MW of capacity, 98% of it petroleum. 2 MW of generating capacity retired since 2019 71 MW of operating power plants, mostly petroleum 20.22¢ per kWh for Delmarva Power residential customers, 2024 ## Cities and towns in Talbot County Talbot County is home to Easton, Trappe, St. Michaels and Oxford. Easton17,293 residents Trappe1,517 residents St. Michaels1,083 residents Oxford591 residents Queen Anne59 residents · 31% of the city - Queen Anne also extends into [Queen Anne's County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/queen-anne-s-county). Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Cordova, Tilghman Island. Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Talbot County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in Maryland | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 37,488 | 38,238 | ▲ 2.0% | 19th of 24 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 18,493 | 18,470 | ▼ 0.1% | 17th of 24 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $43,469 | $59,230 | ▲ 36.3% | — | | Construction jobs (2019 → 2025) | 1,119 | 1,143 | ▲ 2.1% | 8th of 15 by growth | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 3.5% | 3.5% | ● 0.0pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 2 MW | | — | Electrical contractors employ 87, at an average $68,867 a year. Delmarva Power is the largest utility serving Talbot County, one of 3 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 20.22¢/kWh in 2024, above the 14.84¢ median for Maryland utilities. Employers here counted 18,470 jobs in 2025, down 0.1% from 2019. 38,238 people live here, up 2.0% since 2020. Unemployment was 3.5% in August 2026, against 3.5% in 2019. ## Who powers Talbot County ### Utilities with service territory in Talbot County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Delmarva Power | Investor Owned | Bundled | 186,368 | 20.22¢ | 17% | | Choptank Electric Cooperative, Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 50,697 | 16.46¢ | 23% | | Easton Utilities Comm | Municipal | Bundled | 8,590 | 13.06¢ | 55% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Petroleum | 70 MW | 98% | | Solar | 2 MW | 2% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Easton 2 | Easton Utilities Comm | Petroleum | 39 MW | 1978 | | Easton | Easton Utilities Comm | Petroleum | 31 MW | 1954 | | MEBA | Altus Power America Management, LLC | Solar | 2 MW | 2014 | ### Retired since 2019 | Plant | Technology | MW | Year | |---|---|---|---| | Easton | Petroleum | 2 MW | 2023 | ## The Talbot County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 18,470 | $59,230 | 1.00 | | Construction | 1,143 | $65,355 | 1.17 | | Electrical contractors | 87 | $68,867 | 0.65 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Talbot County ### Local measures | Measure | Status | Date | |---|---|---| | Twelve-month moratorium on data center applications | In force | 2026-09 | ## Talbot County and its neighbors Of the 3 counties that border Talbot County, Dorchester County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Talbot County | 38,238 | ▼ 0.1% | 71 MW | — | — | 1 | | Caroline County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/caroline-county) | 34,116 | ▼ 9.3% | 147 MW | — | — | 1 | | Dorchester County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/dorchester-county) | 33,628 | ▲ 3.0% | 310 MW | — | — | 1 | | Queen Anne's County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/queen-anne-s-county) | 54,448 | ▲ 4.1% | 167 MW | — | — | 1 | ## More of Maryland [All Maryland countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland)[Queen Anne's County54,448 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/queen-anne-s-county)[Caroline County34,116 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/caroline-county)[Dorchester County33,628 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/dorchester-county) ## Talbot County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Talbot County, Maryland? 3 utilities have service territory in Talbot County in the EIA-861 2024 report: Delmarva Power, Choptank Electric Cooperative, Inc, Easton Utilities Comm. The largest, Delmarva Power, charged residential customers 20.22¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What county is Easton, MD in? Easton is in Talbot County, Maryland. About 17,293 people live there (2025 Census estimate). ### What power plants are in Talbot County? 3 operating plants with 71 MW of capacity. The largest is Easton 2 (39 MW, petroleum). ### Are there data centers in Talbot County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Talbot County. ### Is Talbot County adding jobs? Employers counted 18,470 jobs in 2025 against 18,493 in 2019 (-0.1%, BLS QCEW). Construction went from 1,119 to 1,143. ### Does Talbot County have a data center moratorium? The SAVRN Moratorium Tracker holds 1 local measure for Talbot County, 1 in force. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/maryland/talbot-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).