State of the Region (Metropolitan Report, 2006)
State of the Region 2005
In December 2005, the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) released its fourth State of the Region Report, which ranks the Baltimore area among 20 benchmark U.S. Metropolitan regions. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council partnered with GBC and the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore by conducting the primary research and data collection for the report.
“The research effort was particularly challenging this year because many of the boundaries for the Metropolitan Statistical Areas had changed,” said Mary Logan, who manages the Regional Information Center and led BMC’s research efforts for the report. “I think we found some of the best data available and GBC did a good job of interpreting and presenting the findings in a balanced and credible way.”
Out of the nearly one-hundred different categories that were measured in the report, the Baltimore region ranked in the top five for almost a quarter of them. The region ranked #1 in Academic R&D expenditures and ranked #1 for Best Hospitals. The region also led its peers in violent crime reduction as well as median home price growth and per capita personal income growth.
Under a contract with Enoch Pratt Free Library, Mary Logan manages the Regional Information Center at BMC and led research efforts for the GBC State of the Region Report.
“The Baltimore Metropolitan Council played a key role in producing this report,” said GBC President Donald C. Fry. “Serving as the primary researchers, the BMC staff’s knowledge of information sources proved invaluable to this effort.”
Key findings from the GBC State of the Region Report:
Changing Dynamics and Greater Baltimore
Greater Baltimore’s economy has strengthened over the past few years with above average gains in employment and increases in income and home prices that were among the highest in the nation. These advances were driven by a number of trends, including the rapid growth of post 9-11 Washington, D. C., rising demand for homes, and the desire of more people to return to center cities. Greater Baltimore and its center city surged into the new millennium with newfound energy, leaving its rust-belt peers of St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland well behind. While it continues to have issues related to crime, social problems and its industrial past, the data reveals that more appropriate peers for Baltimore over the next decade might be regions such as Denver, Seattle, and Minneapolis.
Growth and Development in Baltimore’s City Center
A recent retail assessment revealed that Baltimore’s city center is among the strongest in the nation, based on a critical mass of business, residents, visitors, facilities and institutions. Using a 1-mile radius from the city center, Baltimore ranks 8th nationally for population with over 36,000 residents and 8th for the number of households earning $75,000+ annually. Billions of dollars are being invested in new development in Baltimore City with new condo towers, hotels, and townhouse communities sprouting up near downtown on the Inner Harbor, on the West Side, on the East Side around Johns Hopkins, and in the Canton/Highlandtown areas. These trends and activities have positioned Baltimore City to attract national retail and signature developers to serve the growing market and further solidify the region’s city center as a top U.S. destination.
Good-bye Rust Belt
Baltimore is often compared to the so-called “rust-belt” cities of the Midwest, including Cleveland, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The large industrial firms that dominated these cities in the past left a dual legacy in each: 1) strong health care, education and cultural institutions endowed by past earnings; and 2) brownfields, grime and extreme difficulty adapting to the ever-changing dynamics of the global economy. Each region is making valiant efforts to revitalize and grow, however Baltimore is emerging from the pack and is well ahead of these ‘peer’ regions in many respects.
Emerging Region; Changing Image
Greater Baltimore’s improved economic position, along with its official designation as a combined metro area with Washington, has served to improve the region’s image as evidenced by high rankings in many recent national publications. Baltimore is now ranked among the top regions for everything from travel, to living single, to academic research. These ‘outside’ rankings reinforce the positive changes taking place in the city and region and serve to create momentum.
Get the Complete GBC report:
Copies of the new report are available at the Regional Information Center at BMC. Or you may access the report online.
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Last Updated on Monday, 07 May 2007 05:57