Howard County One of Only 41 US Counties Rated AAA

Howard County announced on March 20th that our county is one of only 41 counties from among the over 3000 counties in the US to receive the highest AAA rating from all three major debt rating agencies.

This is the 18th year in a row that Howard has achieved this rating.

Fitch, Standard and Poor's, and Moody's all gave Howard County a AAA rating with a positive outlook based upon prudent fiscal management and a strong and diverse tax base.

This means that the County can continue to receive the lowest interest rates when issuing public debt, and is a reaffirmation of the fiscal health of our community.

As a point of comparison, only 5 of 254 counties in the state of Texas have been able to maintain this rating.

It's a measure of the relative strength of the regional economy that a disproportionate number of the highly rated counties are in the DC-MD-NoVA area. Among the highly rated localities were:

• Maryland (of 24 counties and equivalents): Baltimore County, Bowie (City), Charles, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Rockville (City), Washington Suburban Sanitary District
• Virginia (of 95 counties, 35 cities): Alexandria (City), Arlington, Fairfax (City), Fairfax (County), Herndon (City), Loudon, Prince William, Vienna (City), Virginia Beach (City)