Statistics snapshot: Baltimore’s higher ed mecca is a key part of its workforce

With more than a dozen colleges and universities, you might guess the Baltimore region’s most concentrated industry is education services. 

And it’s quantifiably true. The “location quotient” (LQ) for the education industry in the Baltimore Metropolitan Statistical Area is 4.18, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means education services are about four times more prevalent here than in the rest of the country.

The mid-Atlantic overall is strong in academia: Education services is also the top industry in DC, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. (Both of the latter have a higher concentration than Baltimore, while DC has only half.) 

Many of the region’s universities have a health focus, like Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Both Johns Hopkins and the greater University of Maryland system are top employers in the region, according to Technical.ly’s Tech Economy Dashboard.

These two trends are connected. The top occupation in Baltimore is in life, physical and social sciences, which includes a swath of jobs related to healthcare, technology and innovation. 

This dovetails with the region’s EDA Tech Hubs funding bid — a $70 million proposal — being focused on biotech and biomanufacturing. 

Adding jobs and increasing equitable pathways to careers is part of the goal of Baltimore’s Tech Hub plan — an area where there’s room for improvement. 

About 66% of people in the Baltimore area are actively engaged in the workforce, per BLS data — which means 1 in 3 residents are unemployed or not actively seeking work.

This labor force participation rate is much lower than some other regions of the country. It's slightly lower than the DC region, and slightly higher than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Total employment has remained relatively steady since 2018 in Baltimore, per the data, and only went down half a percentage point. Nearby DC’s employment also slightly decreased. 

The projected employment growth in the region in the next five years is 3%, and workforce development efforts could play into that increase. For example, there are efforts by a Maryland training center to loop in cybersecurity training to local community colleges. There are also efforts to train workers in biopharma and manufacturing. 

The median salary in Baltimore is $94,000. That’s much lower than the DMV, but still pretty solid considering the cost of living is 31% lower in Baltimore.