Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services
Howard · combination · Provides EMS transport · reporting year 2024
- Population served
- 339,668↗
- Area protected
- 250.95 sq mi↗
- Population densitycalc
- 1,354/sq mi↗
- Annual incidents
- 44,018↗
- EMS share of calls
- Unknown
- Stations
- 14↗
- Career personnel
- 517↗
- Volunteer personnel
- Unknown
- Typical on-duty staffing
- Unknown
- Operating budget
- $163.4M↗
- Funding per residentcalc
- $481/resident↗
“calc” = calculated from verified inputs: density = population ÷ area; funding per resident = budget ÷ population.
Organization descriptors
size of the organization (percentile among MD systems)
workload handled (percentile) — not quality
how much verified public data backs it
These describe size and workload, not performance. A larger or busier department is not “better” — the peer list exists precisely so any comparison is against organizations of similar scale.
Five closest peers
Combination county system (career + volunteer) · Frederick
- Comparable career personnel (517 vs 581).
- Comparable population served (339,668 vs 299,317).
- Comparable annual incident volume (44,018 vs 38,000).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 453).
- Different area protected (sq mi) (251 vs 661).
Matched on 6 shared verified fields.
Volunteer-based county system · Harford
- Comparable number of stations (14 vs 12).
- Different career personnel (517 vs 150).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 607).
Matched on 5 shared verified fields.
Volunteer-based county system · Charles
- Comparable number of stations (14 vs 15).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 381).
- Different population served (339,668 vs 174,478).
Matched on 4 shared verified fields.
Combination county system (career + volunteer) · Anne Arundel
- Comparable population density (1,354 vs 1,452).
- Comparable operating budget ($163,400,000 vs $199,750,000).
- Different number of stations (14 vs 31).
- Different annual incident volume (44,018 vs 89,121).
Matched on 7 shared verified fields.
Combination county system (career + volunteer) · Washington
- Comparable annual incident volume (44,018 vs 36,951).
- Different career personnel (517 vs 92).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 344).
Matched on 6 shared verified fields.
Adjacent size baselines
Volunteer-based county system · Charles
- Comparable number of stations (14 vs 15).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 381).
- Different population served (339,668 vs 174,478).
Matched on 4 shared verified fields.
Combination county system (career + volunteer) · Frederick
- Comparable career personnel (517 vs 581).
- Comparable population served (339,668 vs 299,317).
- Comparable annual incident volume (44,018 vs 38,000).
- Different population density (1,354 vs 453).
- Different area protected (sq mi) (251 vs 661).
Matched on 6 shared verified fields.
Sources & transparency
Every value above is a verified public figure or is shown as “Unknown” — nothing is estimated. Excluded from comparison: 0 incompatible-type organizations (a countywide system is never compared with a single volunteer company).
- U.S. Census Bureau — Population Estimates Program (PEP) Vintage 2024 — county + place resident estimates · 2024 · accessed 2026-07-16
- U.S. Census Bureau — 2024 Gazetteer — county + place land area (ALAND_SQMI) · 2024 · accessed 2026-07-16
- Howard County Dept of Fire and Rescue Services — 2024 & 2025 Annual Reports · 2024 · accessed 2026-07-16
- Wikipedia (citing HCDFRS) — Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services · 2024 · accessed 2026-07-16
- Conduit Street (MACo) / Howard County Exec — FY2025 Fire & Rescue budget coverage · 2025 · accessed 2026-07-16