Wicomico County
County
Wicomico County Courthouse in Salisbury
Flag Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Maryland
Maryland's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 38°22′N 75°38′W / 38.37°N 75.63°W / 38.37; -75.63
Country	United States
State	Maryland
Founded	1867
Named for	Wicomico River
Seat	Salisbury
Largest city	Salisbury
Area
• Total	400 sq mi (1,000 km2)
• Land	374 sq mi (970 km2)
• Water	26 sq mi (70 km2)  6.4%
Population  (2020)
• Total	103,588
• Density	260/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	www.wicomicocounty.org

Wicomico County (/waɪˈkɒmɪkoʊ/ wy-KOM-ik-oh)^[1] is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,588.^[2] The county seat is Salisbury.^[3] The county was named for the Wicomico River, which in turn derives its name from the Algonquian language words wicko mekee, meaning "a place where houses are built," apparently referring to a Native American town on the banks. The county is included in the Salisbury, MD-DE Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Wicomico County was created from Somerset and Worcester counties in 1867.^[4]

Politics and government

Wicomico County was granted a charter form of government in 1964.^[4]

In the period after the Reconstruction era, Wicomico County became solidly Democratic due to its strong support for secession and state efforts to disenfranchise most blacks by raising barriers to voter registration. Independent insurgent white groups worked to intimidate and discourage black voters, especially in rural areas.^[5]

Maryland was a one-party state, like others in the South, until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s to protect the right to vote. No Republican carried Wicomico County until 1928, when Herbert Hoover won due to anti-Catholic sentiment in the heavily Protestant county against Democratic candidate Al Smith. The popular general Dwight D. Eisenhower carried Wicomico in 1952. Eisenhower would again carry Wicomico in 1956, and Republican Richard Nixon would win it in 1960 against John F. Kennedy who, like Al Smith, was Catholic.

No Democratic presidential nominee has won Wicomico County since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in 1964, as white conservatives increasingly moved into the Republican Party.^[6] Bill Clinton, a son of the South, came within 384 votes of beating Bob Dole in 1996. The county trended Republican in 2000 and 2004, but Barack Obama obtained a higher proportion of the county vote in 2008 and 2012, likely benefiting from support from young, educated, or minority voters. In 2020, Joe Biden came extremely close to winning the county, with Donald Trump only edging him out by 890 votes.^[7] Biden obtained 47.7% of the county's vote, the highest percentage for any Democrat since 1964. Trump also won less than 50% of the vote, the first time a Republican had been held below a majority of the vote in Wicomico County since 1996.