kids encyclopedia robot

Maryland facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Maryland
State of Maryland
Flag of Maryland Official seal of Maryland
Nickname(s): 
"Old Line State", "Free State", "Little America", "America in Miniature"
Motto(s): 
"Fatti maschii, parole femine"
(English: "Strong Deeds, Gentle Words") The Latin text encircling the seal:
Scuto bonæ voluntatis tuæ coronasti nos ("With Favor Wilt Thou Compass Us as with a Shield") Psalm 5:12
Anthem: None ("Maryland, My Maryland" repealed in 2021)
Map of the United States with Maryland highlighted
Map of the United States with Maryland highlighted
Country United States
Before statehood Province of Maryland
Admitted to the Union April 28, 1788 (7th)
Capital Annapolis
Largest city Baltimore
Largest metro Baltimore–Washington (combined)
Baltimore (metro and urban)
Legislature General Assembly
 • Upper house Senate
 • Lower house House of Delegates
Area
 • Total 12,407 sq mi (32,133 km2)
 • Land 9,776 sq mi (25,314 km2)
 • Water 2,633 sq mi (6,819 km2)  21%
Area rank 42nd
Dimensions
 • Length 119 mi (192 km)
 • Width 196 mi (315 km)
Elevation
350 ft (110 m)
Highest elevation 3,360 ft (1,024 m)
Lowest elevation 0 ft (0 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 6,177,224
 • Rank 18th
 • Density 632/sq mi (244/km2)
 • Density rank 5th
 • Median household income
$87,063
 • Income rank
1st
Demonym(s) Marylander
Language
 • Official language None (English, de facto)
Time zone UTC−05:00 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−04:00 (EDT)
USPS abbreviation
MD
ISO 3166 code US-MD
Trad. abbreviation Md.
Latitude 37° 53′ N to 39° 43′ N
Longitude 75° 03′ W to 79° 29′ W
Maryland state symbols
Flag of Maryland.svg
Seal of Maryland (reverse).svg
Coat of arms of Maryland.svg
The Coat of arms of Maryland
Living insignia
Bird Baltimore oriole
Butterfly Baltimore checkerspot butterfly
Crustacean Blue crab
Fish Rock fish
Flower Black-eyed Susan
Insect Baltimore checkerspot
Mammal Calico cat
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Thoroughbred horse
Reptile Diamondback terrapin
Tree White oak
Inanimate insignia
Beverage Milk
Dance Square dance
Dinosaur Astrodon johnstoni
Food Blue crab
Smith Island Cake
Fossil Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae
Gemstone Patuxent River stone
Mineral Agate
Poem "Maryland, My Maryland" by James Ryder Randall (1861, adopted 1939, repealed 2021)
Slogan Maryland of Opportunity
Sport Jousting
Lacrosse
State route marker
Maryland state route marker
State quarter
Maryland quarter dollar coin
Released in 2000
Lists of United States state symbols

Maryland ( merr-IL-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. Baltimore is the largest city in the state, and the capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after the English Queen Henrietta Maria, then known in England as Mary.

Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans – mostly by the Algonquin, and, to a lesser degree, by the Iroquois and Siouian. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria. Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, who rejected Catholicism in their settlements, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. Accordingly, in 1649 the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation. Nevertheless, religious strife was common in the early years, and Catholics remained a minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony.

Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay. Its economy was heavily plantation-based and centered mostly on the cultivation of tobacco. Great Britain's need for cheap labor led to a rapid expansion of indentured servants, penal labor, and African slaves. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Maryland was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and by 1776, its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of its citizens subsequently played key political and military roles in the war. In 1790, the state ceded land for the establishment of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C.

Although then a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, its strategic location giving it a significant role in the conflict. After the Civil War, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe. Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly, to approximately six million residents, and it is among the most densely populated U.S. states. As of 2015, Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology. The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita.

Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties, as well as the city of Baltimore, border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its many tributaries, which combined total more than 4,000 miles of shoreline. Although one of the smallest states in the U.S., it features a variety of climates and topographical features that have earned it the moniker of America in Miniature. In a similar vein, Maryland's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, and Southern regions of the country.

Geography

Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km2) and is comparable in overall area with Belgium (11,787 square miles (30,530 km2)). It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii (10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km2)), the next smallest state.

MDGeoReg
Physical regions of Maryland

Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. It ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with wildlife and large bald cypress near the Chesapeake Bay, to gently rolling hills of oak forests in the Piedmont Region, and pine groves in the mountains to the west.

Deep Creek Lake Maryland Panoramic View
Western Maryland: known for its heavily forested mountains. A panoramic view of Deep Creek Lake and the surrounding Appalachian Mountains in Garrett County.

Maryland is bounded on its north by Pennsylvania, on its west by West Virginia, on its east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean, and on its south, across the Potomac River, by West Virginia and Virginia. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D.C., which sits on land that was originally part of Montgomery and Prince George's counties and including the town of Georgetown, Maryland. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia. (The Commonwealth of Virginia gave land south of the Potomac, including the town of Alexandria, Virginia, however Virginia retroceded its portion in 1846). The Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore.

Patapsco fg01
Typical freshwater river above the tidal zone. The Patapsco River includes the famous Thomas Viaduct and is part of the Patapsco Valley State Park. Later, the river forms the Inner Harbor as it empties into the Chesapeake Bay.
Sunset over the marsh at Cardinal Cove - NOAA
Typical brackish tidal river. Sunset over a marsh at Cardinal Cove on the Patuxent River
ChesapeakeTidalWetlands
Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States and the largest water feature in Maryland.

Most of the state's waterways are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with the exceptions of a tiny portion of extreme western Garrett County (drained by the Youghiogheny River as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River), the eastern half of Worcester County (which drains into Maryland's Atlantic coastal bays), and a small portion of the state's northeast corner (which drains into the Delaware River watershed).

The highest point in Maryland, with an elevation of 3,360 feet (1,020 m), is Hoye Crest on Backbone Mountain, in the southwest corner of Garrett County, near the border with West Virginia, and near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac River.

Flora

BESusan
Black-eyed susans, the state flower, grow throughout much of the state.

As is typical of states on the East Coast, Maryland's plant life is abundant and healthy. A good dose of annual precipitation helps to support many types of plants, including seagrass and various reeds at the smaller end of the spectrum to the gigantic Wye Oak, a huge example of white oak, the state tree, which can grow in excess of 70 feet (21 m) tall.

Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay and on the Delmarva Peninsula. Moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state. The Appalachian Mountains of western Maryland are home to Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests. These give way to Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests near the West Virginia border.

Palmtree solomons
Mature Trachycarpus fortunei in Solomons, Maryland

Many foreign species are cultivated in the state, some as ornamentals, others as novelty species. Included among these are the crape myrtle, Italian cypress, live oak in the warmer parts of the state, and even hardy palm trees in the warmer central and eastern parts of the state. USDA plant hardiness zones in the state range from Zones 5 and 6 in the extreme western part of the state to Zone 7 in the central part, and Zone 8 around the southern part of the coast, the bay area, and parts of metropolitan Baltimore. Invasive plant species, such as kudzu, tree of heaven, multiflora rose, and Japanese stiltgrass, stifle growth of endemic plant life. Maryland's state flower, the black-eyed susan, grows in abundance in wild flower groups throughout the state. The state insect, the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, is not common as it is near the southern edge of its range. 435 species of birds have been reported from Maryland.

Fauna

The state harbors a great number of white tailed deer, especially in the woody and mountainous west of the state, and overpopulation can become a problem from year-to-year. Mammals can be found ranging from the mountains in the west to the central areas and include black bears, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, and otters.

Assateague Island horses August 2009 4
On Maryland's Atlantic coastal islands: A feral Chincoteague Pony on Assateague

There is a population of rare wild (feral) horses found on Assateague Island. Every year during the last week of July, feral horses are captured and waded across a shallow bay for sale at Chincoteague, Virginia. This conservation technique ensures the tiny island is not overrun by the horses. The ponies and their sale were popularized by the children's book, Misty of Chincoteague. They are believed to be descended from horses who escaped from shipwrecks.

The purebred Chesapeake Bay Retriever dog was bred specifically for water sports, hunting and search and rescue in the Chesapeake area. In 1878 the Chesapeake Bay Retriever was the first individual retriever breed recognized by the American Kennel Club. and was later adopted by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as their mascot.

Maryland's reptile and amphibian population includes the diamondback terrapin turtle, which was adopted as the mascot of University of Maryland, College Park. The state is part of the territory of the Baltimore oriole, which is the official state bird and mascot of the MLB team the Baltimore Orioles.

Climate

Baltimore Snowpocalypse
Winter in Baltimore, Lancaster Street, Fells Point

Maryland has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to water, and protection from colder weather due to downslope winds.

The eastern half of Maryland—which includes the cities of Ocean City, Salisbury, Annapolis, and the southern and eastern suburbs of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore—lies on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, with flat topography and sandy or muddy soil. This region has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with hot, humid summers and a short, mild to cool winter; it falls under USDA Hardiness zone 8a.

The Piedmont region—which includes northern and western greater Baltimore, Westminster, Gaithersburg, Frederick, and Hagerstown—has average seasonal snowfall totals generally exceeding 20 inches (51 cm) and, as part of USDA Hardiness zones 7b and 7a, temperatures below 10 °F (−12 °C) are less rare. From the Cumberland Valley on westward, the climate begins to transition to a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa).

In western Maryland, the higher elevations of Allegany and Garrett counties—including the cities of Cumberland, Frostburg, and Oakland—display more characteristics of the humid continental zone, due in part to elevation. They fall under USDA Hardiness zones 6b and below.

Hurricanes and tornadoes

Because of its location near the Atlantic Coast, Maryland is somewhat vulnerable to tropical cyclones, although the Delmarva Peninsula and the outer banks of North Carolina provide a large buffer, such that strikes from major hurricanes (category 3 or above) occur infrequently. More often, Maryland gets the remnants of a tropical system which has already come ashore and released most of its energy. Maryland averages around 30–40 days of thunderstorms a year, and averages around six tornado strikes annually.

History

17th century

Calvertcecil
Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, 1st Proprietor of the Maryland colony.

Maryland's first colonial settlement

The Catholic George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore sought a charter from Charles I for the territory between Pennsylvania and Virginia. After George Calvert died in April 1632, the charter was granted to his son, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June 20, 1632. The new "Maryland Colony" was named in honor of Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I of England.

Lord Baltimore's first settlers arrived in the new colony in March 1634. They made their first permanent settlement at St. Mary's City in what is now St. Mary's County. They purchased the site from the paramount chief of the region, who was eager to establish trade. St. Mary's became the first capital of Maryland, and remained so for 60 years until 1695. More settlers soon followed. Their tobacco crops were successful and quickly made the new colony profitable. However, given the incidence of malaria and typhoid, life expectancy in Maryland was about 10 years less than in New England.

18th century

Most of the English colonists arrived in Maryland as indentured servants, and had to serve a several years' term as laborers to pay for their passage.

Maxime de Cromot
Comte du Bourg (left) and Baron von Closen on their way to Yorktown, September 1781

Many of the free black families migrated to Delaware, where land was cheaper. The economy's growth and prosperity was based on slave labor, devoted first to the production of tobacco as the commodity crop.

Maryland was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

19th century

Ft. Henry bombardement 1814
The bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore inspired the song, "Star Spangled Banner".

During the War of 1812, the British military attempted to capture Baltimore, which was protected by Fort McHenry. During this bombardment the song "Star Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key; it was later adopted as the national anthem.

Civil War

The state remained with the Union during the Civil War. By 1860, 49% of Maryland's African Americans were free blacks.

Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War with nearly 23,000 casualties.

In April 1861 Federal units and state regiments were attacked as they marched through Baltimore, sparking the Baltimore riot of 1861, the first bloodshed in the Civil War. Of the 115,000 men from Maryland who joined the military during the Civil War, 85,000, or 77%, joined the Union army, while the remainder joined the Confederate Army. The largest and most significant battle in the state was the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg. Although a tactical draw, the battle was considered a strategic Union victory and a turning point of the war.

After the war

A new state constitution in 1864 abolished slavery, and following passage of constitutional amendments that granted voting rights to freedmen, in 1867 the state extended suffrage to non-white males.

Compared to some other states, blacks were better established both before and after the civil war. Nearly half the population was free before the war, and some had accumulated property.

Baltimore grew significantly during the Industrial Revolution, due in large part to its seaport and good railroad connections, attracting European immigrant labor. Many manufacturing businesses were established in the Baltimore area after the Civil War.

20th century

Early 20th century

The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 burned over 30 hours, destroying 1,526 buildings and spanning 70 city blocks. More than 1,231 firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control.

With the nation's entry into World War I in 1917, new military bases such as Camp Meade, the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the Edgewood Arsenal were established. Existing facilities, including Fort McHenry, were greatly expanded.

Baltimore was a major war production center during World War II. The biggest operations were Bethlehem Steel's Fairfield Yard, which built Liberty ships; and Glenn Martin, an aircraft manufacturer.

1950–present

Maryland experienced population growth following World War II, particularly in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. suburbs.

Maryland's regions experienced economic changes following WWII. Heavy manufacturing declined in Baltimore. In Maryland's four westernmost counties, industrial, railroad, and coal mining jobs declined. On the lower Eastern Shore, family farms were bought up by major concerns and large-scale poultry farms and vegetable farming became prevalent. In Southern Maryland, tobacco farming nearly vanished due to suburban development and a state tobacco buy-out program.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1790 319,728
1800 341,548 6.8%
1810 380,546 11.4%
1820 407,350 7.0%
1830 447,040 9.7%
1840 470,019 5.1%
1850 583,034 24.0%
1860 687,049 17.8%
1870 780,894 13.7%
1880 934,943 19.7%
1890 1,042,390 11.5%
1900 1,188,044 14.0%
1910 1,295,346 9.0%
1920 1,449,661 11.9%
1930 1,631,526 12.5%
1940 1,821,244 11.6%
1950 2,343,001 28.6%
1960 3,100,689 32.3%
1970 3,922,399 26.5%
1980 4,216,975 7.5%
1990 4,781,468 13.4%
2000 5,296,486 10.8%
2010 5,773,552 9.0%
2020 6,177,224 7.0%
Source: 1910–2020

In the 2020 United States census, the United States Census Bureau found that population of Maryland was 6,185,278 people, a 7.1% increase from the 2010 United States census. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Maryland was 6,045,680 on July 1, 2019, a 4.71% increase from the 2010 United States census and an increase of 2,962, from the prior year. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 269,166 (464,251 births minus 275,093 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 116,713 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 129,730 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 13,017 people. The center of population of Maryland is located on the county line between Anne Arundel County and Howard County, in the unincorporated community of Jessup.

Maryland's history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and the Southern regions of the United States. Generally, rural Western Maryland between the West Virginian Panhandle and Pennsylvania has an Appalachian culture; the Southern and Eastern Shore regions of Maryland embody a Southern culture, while densely populated Central Maryland — radiating outward from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. — has more in common with that of the Northeast. The U.S. Census Bureau designates Maryland as one of the South Atlantic States, but it is commonly associated with the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States by other federal agencies, the media, and some residents.

Language

Spanish (including Spanish Creole) is the second most spoken language in Maryland, after English. The third and fourth most spoken languages are French (including Patois and Cajun) and Chinese. Other commonly spoken languages include various African languages, Korean, German, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Italian, various Asian languages, Persian, Hindi, and other Indic languages, Greek, and Arabic.

Cities and metro areas

Maryland population map
Maryland population distribution map. Maryland's population is concentrated mostly in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas.

Most of the population of Maryland lives in the central region of the state, in the Baltimore metropolitan area and Washington metropolitan area, both of which are part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The majority of Maryland's population is concentrated in the cities and suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C., as well as in and around Maryland's most populous city, Baltimore. Historically, these and many other Maryland cities developed along the Fall Line, the line along which rivers, brooks, and streams are interrupted by rapids and waterfalls. Maryland's capital city, Annapolis, is one exception to this pattern since it lies along the banks of the Severn River, close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

The Eastern Shore is less populous and more rural, as are the counties of western Maryland. The two westernmost counties of Maryland, Allegany and Garrett, are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling West Virginia and Appalachia more than they do the rest of the state. Both eastern and western Maryland are, however, dotted with cities of regional importance, such as Ocean City, Princess Anne, and Salisbury on the Eastern Shore and Cumberland, Frostburg, and Hancock in Western Maryland. Southern Maryland is still somewhat rural, but suburbanization from Washington, D.C., has encroached significantly since the 1960s; important local population centers include Lexington Park, Prince Frederick, California, and Waldorf.

Largest cities or towns in Maryland
2010 U.S. Census estimates
Rank Name Pop.
1 Baltimore 620,961
2 Columbia 99,615
3 Germantown 86,395
4 Silver Spring 71,452
5 Waldorf 67,752
6 Glen Burnie 67,639
7 Ellicott City 65,834
8 Frederick 65,239
9 Dundalk 63,597
10 Rockville 61,209

Ancestry


Circle frame-1.svg

Racial Makeup of Maryland excluding Hispanics from racial categories (2019)
NH = Non-Hispanic      White NH (49.82%)     Black NH (29.75%)     Asian NH (6.35%)     Native American NH (0.25%)     Pacific Islander NH (0.04%)     Two or more races NH (2.85%)     Other NH (0.31%)     Hispanic Any Race (10.64%)

Maryland Racial Breakdown of Population
Racial composition 1970 1990 2000 2010 2020
White 81.5% 71.0% 64.0% 60.8% 58.5%
Black 17.8% 24.9% 27.9% 29.8% 31.1%
Asian 0.5% 2.9% 4.0% 5.5% 6.7%
Native 0.1% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.6%
Other race 0.1% 0.9% 1.8% 3.6%
Two or more races 2.0% 2.9% 2.9%
Non-Hispanic whites 80.4% 69.6% 62.1% 54.7% 50.0%

In 1970, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Maryland's population as 17.8 percent African-American and 80.4 percent non-Hispanic White.

African Americans form a sizable portion of the state's population, 31.1% as of 2020. Most are descendants of people transported to the area as slaves from West Africa, and many are of mixed race, including European and Native American ancestry. Concentrations of African Americans live in Baltimore City, Prince George's County, a suburb of Washington, D.C., where many work; Charles County, western parts of Baltimore County, and the southern Eastern Shore. New residents of African descent include 20th-century and later immigrants from Nigeria, particularly of the Igbo and Yoruba tribes. Maryland also hosts populations from other African and Caribbean nations. Many immigrants from the Horn of Africa have settled in Maryland, with large communities existing in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (particularly Montgomery County and Prince George's County), and the city of Baltimore. The Greater Washington area has the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Africa. The Ethiopian community of Greater D.C. was historically based in Washington, D.C.'s, Adams Morgan and Shaw neighborhoods, but as the community has grown, many Ethiopians have settled in Silver Spring. The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is also home to large Eritrean and Somali communities.

The top reported ancestries by Maryland residents are: German (15%), Irish (11%), English (8%), American (7%), Italian (6%), and Polish (3%).

Irish American populations can be found throughout the Baltimore area, and the Northern and Eastern suburbs of Washington, D.C., in Maryland (descendants of those who moved out to the suburbs of Washington's once predominantly Irish neighborhoods), as well as Western Maryland, where Irish immigrant laborers helped to build the B & O Railroad. Smaller but much older Irish populations can be found in Southern Maryland, with some roots dating as far back as the early Maryland colony. This population, however, still remains culturally very active and yearly festivals are held.

A large percentage of the population of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland are descendants of British American ancestry. The Eastern Shore was settled by Protestants, chiefly Methodist and the southern counties were initially settled by English Catholics. Western and northern Maryland have large German-American populations. More recent European immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century settled first in Baltimore, attracted to its industrial jobs. Many of their ethnic Italian, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, and Greek descendants still live in the area.

Large ethnic minorities include Eastern Europeans such as Croatians, Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians. The shares of European immigrants born in Eastern Europe increased significantly between 1990 and 2010. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, many immigrants from Eastern Europe came to the United States—12 percent of whom currently reside in Maryland.

Hispanic immigrants of the later 20th century have settled in Aspen Hill, Hyattsville/Langley Park, Glenmont/Wheaton, Bladensburg, Riverdale Park, Gaithersburg, as well as Highlandtown and Greektown in East Baltimore. Salvadorans are the largest Hispanic group in Maryland. Other Hispanic groups with significant populations in the state include Mexicans and Puerto Ricans and Hondurans. Though the Salvadoran population is more concentrated in the area around Washington, D.C., and the Puerto Rican population is more concentrated in the Baltimore area, all other major Hispanic groups in the state are evenly dispersed between these two areas. Maryland has one of the most diverse Hispanic populations in the country, with significant populations from various Caribbean and Central American nations.

Asian Americans are concentrated in the suburban counties surrounding Washington, D.C., and in Howard County, with Korean American and Taiwanese American communities in Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown and a Filipino American community in Fort Washington. Numerous Indian Americans live across the state, especially in central Maryland.

Attracting educated Asians and Africans to the professional jobs in the region, Maryland has the fifth-largest proportions of racial minorities in the country.

In 2006, 645,744 were counted as foreign born, which represents mainly people from Latin America and Asia. About four percent are undocumented immigrants. Maryland also has a large Korean American population. In fact, 1.7 percent are Korean, while as a whole, 6.7 percent are Asian.

According to The Williams Institute's analysis of the 2010 U.S. census, 12,538 same-sex couples are living in Maryland, representing 5.8 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.

In 2019, non-Hispanic white Americans were 49.8% of Maryland's population (White Americans, including White Hispanics, were 57.3%), which made Maryland a majority minority state. 50.2% of Maryland's population is non-white, or is Hispanic or Latino, the highest percentage of any state on the East Coast, and the highest percentage after the majority-minority states of Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, California, and Nevada. By 2031, minorities are projected to become the majority of voting eligible residents of Maryland.

Religion

Religion in Maryland (2014)
religion percent
Protestant
  
52%
None
  
23%
Catholic
  
15%
Jewish
  
3%
Other faiths
  
2%
Buddhist
  
1%
Hindu
  
1%
Islam
  
1%
Mormon
  
1%
Orthodox Christian
  
1%
BasilicaExterior
The Baltimore Basilica was the first Catholic cathedral built in the U.S.
Lanham Murugan Temple USA
The Murugan Temple of North America (Hindu) in Lanham, Maryland

Maryland has been historically prominent to American Catholic tradition because the English colony of Maryland was intended by George Calvert as a haven for English Catholics. Baltimore was the seat of the first Catholic bishop in the U.S. (1789), and Emmitsburg was the home and burial place of the first American-born citizen to be canonized, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Georgetown University, the first Catholic University, was founded in 1789 in what was then part of Maryland. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Baltimore was the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, and the Archbishop of Baltimore is, albeit without formal primacy, the United States' quasi-primate, and often a cardinal. Among the immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries from eastern and southern Europe were many Catholics.

Despite its historic relevance to the Catholic Church in the United States, the percentage of Catholics in the state of Maryland is below the national average of 20%. Demographically, both Protestants and those identifying with no religion are more numerous than Catholics.

According to the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of Maryland's population identifies themselves as Christian. Nearly 52% of the adult population are Protestants. Following Protestantism, Catholicism is the second largest religious affiliation, comprising 15% percent of the population. Amish/Mennonite communities are found in St. Mary's, Garrett, and Cecil counties. Judaism is the largest non-Christian religion in Maryland, with 241,000 adherents, or four percent of the total population. Jews are numerous throughout Montgomery County and in Pikesville and Owings Mills northwest of Baltimore. An estimated 81,500 Jewish Americans live in Montgomery County, constituting approximately 10% of the total population. The Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters and Ahmadiyya Muslims' national headquarters are located in Silver Spring, just outside the District of Columbia.

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maryland's gross state product in 2016 was $382.4 billion. However, Maryland has been using Genuine Progress Indicator, an indicator of well-being, to guide the state's development, rather than relying only on growth indicators like GDP. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maryland households are currently the wealthiest in the country, with a 2013 median household income of $72,483 which puts it ahead of New Jersey and Connecticut, which are second and third respectively. Two of Maryland's counties, Howard and Montgomery, are the second and eleventh wealthiest counties in the nation respectively. Maryland has the most millionaires per capita in 2013, with a ratio of 7.7 percent. Also, the state's poverty rate of 7.8 percent is the lowest in the country. per capita personal income in 2006 was $43,500, fifth in the nation. As of February 2018, the state's unemployment rate was 4.2 percent.

Geo Map of Median Income by Location in Maryland
A map showing Maryland's median income by county. Data is sourced from the 2014 ACS 5-year Estimate report published by the US Census Bureau.

Maryland's economy benefits from the state's proximity to the federal government in Washington, D.C., with an emphasis on technical and administrative tasks for the defense/aerospace industry and bio-research laboratories, as well as staffing of satellite government headquarters in the suburban or exurban Baltimore/Washington area. Ft. Meade serves as the headquarters of the Defense Information Systems Agency, United States Cyber Command, and the National Security Agency/Central Security Service. In addition, a number of educational and medical research institutions are located in the state. In fact, the various components of The Johns Hopkins University and its medical research facilities are now the largest single employer in the Baltimore area. Altogether, white collar technical and administrative workers comprise 25 percent of Maryland's labor force, attributable in part to nearby Maryland being a part of the Washington Metro Area where the federal government office employment is relatively high.

Manufacturing, while large in dollar value, is highly diversified with no sub-sector contributing over 20 percent of the total. Typical forms of manufacturing include electronics, computer equipment, and chemicals. The once-mighty primary metals sub-sector, which once included what was then the largest steel factory in the world at Sparrows Point, still exists, but is pressed with foreign competition, bankruptcies, and mergers. During World War II the Glenn Martin Company (now part of Lockheed Martin) airplane factory employed some 40,000 people.

Mining other than construction materials is virtually limited to coal, which is located in the mountainous western part of the state. The brownstone quarries in the east, which gave Baltimore and Washington much of their characteristic architecture in the mid-19th century, were once a predominant natural resource. Historically, there used to be small gold-mining operations in Maryland, some near Washington, but these no longer exist.

Baltimore port

One major service activity is transportation, centered on the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access. The port ranked 17th in the U.S. by tonnage in 2008. Although the port handles a wide variety of products, the most typical imports are raw materials and bulk commodities, such as iron ore, petroleum, sugar, and fertilizers, often distributed to the relatively close manufacturing centers of the inland Midwest via good overland transportation. The port also receives several brands of imported motor vehicles and is the number one auto port in the U.S.

Baltimore City is among the top 15 largest ports in the nation, and was one of six major U.S. ports that were part of the February 2006 controversy over the Dubai Ports World deal. The state as a whole is heavily industrialized, with a booming economy and influential technology centers. Its computer industries are some of the most sophisticated in the United States, and the federal government has invested heavily in the area. Maryland is home to several large military bases and scores of high-level government jobs.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is a 14 miles (23 km) canal on the Eastern Shore that connects the waters of the Delaware River with those of the Chesapeake Bay, and in particular with the Port of Baltimore, carrying 40 percent of the port's ship traffic.

Agriculture and fishing

Maryland has a large food-production sector. A large component of this is commercial fishing, centered in the Chesapeake Bay, but also including activity off the short Atlantic seacoast. The largest catches by species are the blue crab, oysters, striped bass, and menhaden. The Bay also has overwintering waterfowl in its wildlife refuges. The waterfowl support a tourism sector of sportsmen.

CarrollCountyMD
Agriculture is an important part of the state's economy.

Maryland has large areas of fertile agricultural land in its coastal and Piedmont zones, though this land use is being encroached upon by urbanization. Agriculture is oriented to dairy farming (especially in foothill and piedmont areas) for nearby large city milksheads, plus specialty perishable horticulture crops, such as cucumbers, watermelons, sweet corn, tomatoes, muskmelons, squash, and peas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles). The southern counties of the western shoreline of Chesapeake Bay are warm enough to support a tobacco cash crop zone, which has existed since early Colonial times, but declined greatly after a state government buy-out in the 1990s. There is also a large automated chicken-farming sector in the state's southeastern part; Salisbury is home to Perdue Farms. Maryland's food-processing plants are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state.

Biotechnology

Maryland is a major center for life sciences research and development. With more than 400 biotechnology companies located there, Maryland is the fourth-largest nexus in this field in the United States.

Institutions and government agencies with an interest in research and development located in Maryland include the Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, more than one campus of the University System of Maryland, Goddard Space Flight Center, the United States Census Bureau, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Celera Genomics company, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), and AstraZeneca (formerly MedImmune).

Maryland is home to defense contractor Emergent BioSolutions, which manufactures and provides an anthrax vaccine to U.S. government military personnel.

Tourism

Ocean City MD beach looking north from pier
The beach resort town of Ocean City along the Atlantic Ocean is a popular tourist destination in Maryland.

Tourism is popular in Maryland. Many tourists visit Baltimore, the beaches of the Eastern Shore, and the nature of western Maryland. Attractions in Baltimore include the Harborplace, the Baltimore Aquarium, Fort McHenry, as well as the Camden Yards baseball stadium. Ocean City on the Atlantic Coast has been a popular beach destination in summer, particularly since the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built in 1952 connecting the Eastern Shore to the more populated Maryland cities. The state capital of Annapolis offers sites such as the state capitol building, the historic district, and the waterfront. Maryland also has several sites of interest to military history, given Maryland's role in the American Civil War and in the War of 1812. Other attractions include the historic and picturesque towns along the Chesapeake Bay, such as Saint Mary's, Maryland's first colonial settlement and original capital.

Healthcare

As of 2017, the top two health insurers including all types of insurance were CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield with 47% market share followed by UnitedHealth Group at 15%.

Maryland has experimented with healthcare payment reforms, notably beginning in the 1970s with an all-payer rate setting program regulated by the Health Services Cost Review Commission. In 2014, it switched to a global budget revenue system, whereby hospitals receive a capitated payment to care for their population.

Sports

With two major metropolitan areas, Maryland has a number of major and minor professional sports franchises. Two National Football League teams play in Maryland, the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore and the Washington Commanders in Landover. The Baltimore Colts represented the NFL in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983 before moving to Indianapolis.

The Baltimore Orioles are the state's Major League Baseball franchise. The National Hockey League's Washington Capitals and the National Basketball Association's Washington Wizards formerly played in Maryland, until the construction of an arena in Washington, D.C. in 1997 (now known as Capital One Arena). University of Maryland's team is the Maryland Terrapins.

Maryland enjoys considerable historical repute for the talented sports players of its past, including Cal Ripken Jr. and Babe Ruth. In 2012, The Baltimore Sun published a list of Maryland's top ten athletes in the state's history. The list includes Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken Jr, Johnny Unitas, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ray Lewis, Michael Phelps, Jimmie Foxx, Jim Parker, and Wes Unseld.

Other professional sports franchises in the state include three affiliated minor league baseball teams, one independent league baseball team, the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team, two indoor football teams, three low-level outdoor soccer teams, and the Chesapeake Bayhawks of Major League Lacrosse. Maryland is also home to one of the three races in horse racing's annual Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, which is run every spring at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The Baltimore Stallions were a Canadian Football Team in the CFL that played the 1994–95 season.

The Congressional Country Club has hosted three golf tournaments for the U.S. Open and a PGA Championship.

The official state sport of Maryland, since 1962, is jousting; the official team sport since 2004 is lacrosse. The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame is located on the Johns Hopkins University campus in Baltimore. In 2008, intending to promote physical fitness for all ages, walking became the official state exercise. Maryland is the first state with an official state exercise.

Education

Primary and secondary education

Memorial Chapel at UMCP, front view off-center, August 21, 2006
Memorial Chapel at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland's flagship university
UMBC Commons and Quad
UMBC Commons and Quad

Education Week ranked Maryland #1 in its nationwide 2009–2013 Quality Counts reports. The College Board's 9th Annual AP Report to the Nation also ranked Maryland first. Primary and secondary education in Maryland is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education, which is headquartered in Baltimore. The highest educational official in the state is the State Superintendent of Schools, who is appointed by the State Board of Education to a four-year term of office. The Maryland General Assembly has given the Superintendent and State Board autonomy to make educationally related decisions, limiting its influence on the day-to-day functions of public education. Each county and county-equivalent in Maryland has a local Board of Education charged with running the public schools in that particular jurisdiction.

The budget for education was $5.5 billion in 2009, representing about 40 percent of the state's general fund. Data from the 2017 census shows that, among large school districts, four Maryland districts are in the top six for per-pupil annual spending, exceeded only by the Boston and New York City districts.

Maryland has a broad range of private primary and secondary schools. Many of these are affiliated with various religious sects, including parochial schools of the Catholic Church, Quaker schools, Seventh-day Adventist schools, and Jewish schools. In 2003, Maryland law was changed to allow for the creation of publicly funded charter schools, although the charter schools must be approved by their local Board of Education and are not exempt from state laws on education, including collective bargaining laws.

In 2008, the state led the entire country in the percentage of students passing Advanced Placement examinations. 23.4 percent of students earned passing grades on the AP tests given in May 2008. This marks the first year that Maryland earned this honor. Three Maryland high schools (in Montgomery County) were ranked among the top 100 in the country by US News in 2009, based in large part on AP test scores.

Colleges and universities

Maryland has several historic and renowned private colleges and universities, the most prominent of which is Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876 with a grant from Baltimore entrepreneur Johns Hopkins.

The first public university in the state is the University of Maryland, Baltimore, which was founded in 1807 and contains the University of Maryland's only public academic health, human services, and one of two law centers (the other being the University of Baltimore School of Law). Seven professional and graduate schools train the majority of the state's physicians, nurses, dentists, lawyers, social workers, and pharmacists. The flagship university and largest undergraduate institution in Maryland is the University of Maryland, College Park which was founded as the Maryland Agricultural College in 1856 and became a public land grant college in 1864. Towson University, founded in 1866, is the state's second largest university.

In 1974, Maryland, along with seven other states, mainly in the South, submitted plans to desegregate its state universities; Maryland's plans were approved by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Baltimore is home to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the Maryland Institute College of Art. The majority of public universities in the state (Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Frostburg State University, Salisbury University and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore) are affiliated with the University System of Maryland. Two state-funded institutions, Morgan State University and St. Mary's College of Maryland, as well as two federally funded institutions, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the United States Naval Academy, are not affiliated with the University System of Maryland. The University of Maryland Global Campus is the largest public university in Maryland and one of the largest distance-learning institutions in the world.

St. John's College in Annapolis and Washington College in Chestertown, both private institutions, are the oldest colleges in the state and among the oldest in the country. Other private institutions include Mount St. Mary's University, McDaniel College (formerly known as Western Maryland College), Hood College, Stevenson University (formerly known as Villa Julie College), Loyola University Maryland, and Goucher College, among others.

Public libraries

Maryland's 24 public library systems deliver public education for everyone in the state of Maryland through a curriculum that comprises three pillars: Self-Directed Education (books and materials in all formats, e-resources), Research Assistance & Instruction (individualized research assistance, classes for students of all ages), and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences (e.g., Summer Reading Clubs, author events).

Maryland's library systems include, in part:

  • Baltimore County Public Library System
  • Cecil County Public Library
  • Enoch Pratt Free Library
  • Frederick County Public Library
  • Harford County Public Library
  • Howard County Public Library
  • Montgomery County Public Libraries
  • Prince George's County Memorial Library System
  • St. Mary's County Public Library

Many of the library systems have established formalized partnerships with other educational institutions in their counties and regions.

Transportation

The Maryland Department of Transportation oversees most transportation in the state through its various administration-level agencies. The independent Maryland Transportation Authority maintains and operates the state's eight toll facilities.

Roads

Maryland's Interstate highways include 110 miles (180 km) of Interstate 95 (I-95), which enters the northeast portion of the state, travels through Baltimore, and becomes part of the eastern section of the Capital Beltway to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. I-68 travels 81 miles (130 km), connecting the western portions of the state to I-70 at the small town of Hancock. I-70 enters from Pennsylvania north of Hancock and continues east for 93 miles (150 km) to Baltimore, connecting Hagerstown and Frederick along the way.

I-83 has 34 miles (55 km) in Maryland and connects Baltimore to southern central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and York, Pennsylvania). Maryland also has an 11-mile (18 km) portion of I-81 that travels through the state near Hagerstown. I-97, fully contained within Anne Arundel County and the shortest (17.6 miles (28.3 km)) one- or two-digit interstate highway in the contiguous US, connects the Baltimore area to the Annapolis area.

There are also several auxiliary Interstate highways in Maryland. Among them are two beltways encircling the major cities of the region: I-695, the McKeldin (Baltimore) Beltway, which encircles Baltimore; and a portion of I-495, the Capital Beltway, which encircles Washington, D.C. I-270, which connects the Frederick area with Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia through major suburbs to the northwest of Washington, is a major commuter route and is as wide as fourteen lanes at points. I-895, also known as the Harbor Tunnel Thruway, provides an alternate route to I-95 across the Baltimore Harbor.

Both I-270 and the Capital Beltway were extremely congested; however, the Intercounty Connector (ICC; MD 200) has alleviated some congestion over time. Construction of the ICC was a major part of the campaign platform of former Governor Robert Ehrlich, who was in office from 2003 until 2007, and of Governor Martin O'Malley, who succeeded him. I-595, which is an unsigned highway concurrent with US 50/US 301, is the longest unsigned interstate in the country and connects Prince George's County and Washington, D.C. with Annapolis and the Eastern Shore via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge viewed from Sandy Point State Park
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge connects Maryland's Eastern and Western Shores.

Maryland also has a state highway system that contains routes numbered from 2 through 999, however most of the higher-numbered routes are either unsigned or are relatively short. Major state highways include Routes 2 (Governor Ritchie Highway/Solomons Island Road/Southern Maryland Blvd.), 4 (Pennsylvania Avenue/Southern Maryland Blvd./Patuxent Beach Road/St. Andrew's Church Road), 5 (Branch Avenue/Leonardtown Road/Point Lookout Road), 32, 45 (York Road), 97 (Georgia Avenue), 100 (Paul T. Pitcher Memorial Highway), 210 (Indian Head Highway), 235 (Three Notch Road), 295 (Baltimore-Washington Parkway), 355 (Wisconsin Avenue/Rockville Pike/Frederick Road), 404 (Queen Anne Highway/ Shore Highway), and 650 (New Hampshire Avenue).

Airports

Maryland's largest airport is Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, more commonly referred to as BWI. The airport is named for the Baltimore-born Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice. The only other airports with commercial service are at Hagerstown and Salisbury.

The Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. are also served by the other two airports in the region, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport, both in Northern Virginia. The College Park Airport is the nation's oldest, founded in 1909, and is still used. Wilbur Wright trained military aviators at this location.

Rail

Amtrak trains, including the high-speed Acela Express serve Baltimore's Penn Station, BWI Airport, New Carrollton, and Aberdeen along the Washington, D.C. to Boston Northeast Corridor. In addition, train service is provided to Rockville and Cumberland by Amtrak's Washington, D.C., to Chicago Capitol Limited.

Ellicott City Station 1970
Ellicott City Station, on the original B&O Railroad line, is the oldest remaining passenger station in the United States. The rail line is still used by CSX Transportation for freight trains, and the station is now a museum.

The WMATA's Metrorail rapid transit and Metrobus local bus systems (the 2nd and 6th busiest in the nation of their respective modes) provide service in Montgomery and Prince George's counties and connect them to Washington, D.C., with the express Metrobus Route B30 serving BWI Airport. The Maryland Transit Administration (often abbreviated as "MTA Maryland"), a state agency part of the Maryland Department of Transportation also provides transit services within the state. Headquartered in Baltimore, MTA's transit services are largely focused on central Maryland, as well as some portions of the Eastern Shore and Southern MD. Baltimore's Light RailLink and Metro SubwayLink systems serve its densely populated inner-city and the surrounding suburbs. The MTA also serves the city and its suburbs with its local bus service (the 9th largest system in the nation). The MTA's Commuter Bus system provides express coach service on longer routes connecting Washington, D.C. and Baltimore to parts of Central and Southern MD as well as the Eastern Shore. The commuter rail service, known as MARC, operates three lines which all terminate at Washington Union Station and provide service to Baltimore's Penn and Camden stations, Perryville, Frederick, and Martinsburg, WV. In addition, many suburban counties operate local bus systems which connect to and complement the larger MTA and WMATA/Metro services.

The MTA will also administer the Purple Line, an under-construction light rail line that will connect the Maryland branches of the Red, Green/Yellow, and Orange lines of the Washington Metro, as well as offer transfers to all three lines of the MARC commuter rail system.

Freight rail transport is handled principally by two Class I railroads, as well as several smaller regional and local carriers. CSX Transportation has more extensive trackage throughout the state, with 560 miles (900 km), followed by Norfolk Southern Railway. Major rail yards are located in Baltimore and Cumberland, with an intermodal terminal (rail, truck and marine) in Baltimore.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Maryland para niños

kids search engine
Maryland Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.