Based on specific land use criteria such as residential density, employment density, and total acreage, BMC staff have identified eight types of activity centers in the region. These activity center types are: Downtown Core, Mixed-Use Centers, Employment Centers, Suburban Employment Centers, Emerging Employment Centers, Industrial Centers, Government Centers, and Regional Airports. Each of these activity center types is based on specific criteria (pdf).

Using a special Census Bureau database called the Census Transportation Planning Package, commuting patterns for each of the activity centers have been summarized, showing where the people who work in each center commute from. The origin areas are Regional Planning Districts (RPDs), the 94 geographic units into which the region is divided.

There is a short table, showing the top ten RPDs (pdf) of origin for each activity center, and a complete table showing all origin RPDs. The activity center map (pdf) shows the location of all centers in the Baltimore region, and the inset map (pdf) of Baltimore City shows commuter flow for just one activity center, the central business district.