AreaProfile

Baltimore, Maryland

Area Profile

573,243 residents. Jobs, income, climate, physical risk, development and airport access for Baltimore, in Baltimore city.

63
Area Score
Top 41% of 133 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity101st of 139 published cities46
Growth127th of 134 published cities18
Housing affordabilityTop 39% of 150 published cities75
ClimateTop 46% of 149 published cities71
Physical resilienceTop 7% of 150 published cities91
AccessTop 31% of 149 published cities98
Economic stability134th of 150 published cities40
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places Baltimore in the bottom 28%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 885 units authorized over the past twelve months, 30% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Baltimore in the top 7% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
573,243
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,177
Bottom 43% nationally
Density
7,082/sq mi
80.9 sq mi of land
Median age
36.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Baltimore city
Maryland
Metro area
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Nearest major airport
BWI
9 mi · Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall
Median home value
$229,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.5% is lower than 12% of the 140 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 268,819 employed residents.

36% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$1,378$62,177Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$577$40,604Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.7%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute31.0 minTop 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher36.1%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment268,819Top 21%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.8%Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 14%June 2026
Labor force284,483Top 21%June 2026
Labor force participation63.2%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$76,370Top 20%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,070Top 15%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.5%Top 12%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032026/012026/067.62.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.5% in June 2026.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202462k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,177 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers44,960$117,040
Retail Salespersons39,920$34,800
Registered Nurses30,930$99,550
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive29,780$49,220
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand28,350$43,250
Home Health and Personal Care Aides26,880$37,640

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,331 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,331
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$229,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.69Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate47.5%Bottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±179295,032Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$15$1,331Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,425$229,600Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.7%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.3%Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
18/ 100
Ranks 127 of 134 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 568,271 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

60% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 1.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
885
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.5
Bottom 18% nationally
Year over year
−30%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
60.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024583k568k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020222023202420252k544
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−66%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.7 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MD SCI CTR BALTIMORE, 1.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

91 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane and earthquake.

EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, winter weather, strong wind, cold wave, inland flooding, tornado, lightning, hail, ice storm, coastal flooding, landslide, wildfire, drought, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Taxes

AreaProfile does not yet publish tax comparisons. No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, methodology transparency and update cadence, and the product rule is to omit a dimension rather than estimate it. The Area Score is calculated without a tax component and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Nothing on AreaProfile is individualized tax advice.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI9 mi10,503 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD52 mi11,500 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT62 mi10,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
63
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)

Profile recalculated August 29, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Baltimore

6 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2121552,229$51,58759
2120648,902$64,53164
2122447,465$89,01766
2122946,679$60,04762
2121844,014$62,48862
2121233,974$96,685