Rankings

Workforce

Maryland has the highest concentration of employed doctoral scientists and engineers. The state ranks first in employed PhD scientists and engineers per 100,000 employed workers. Maryland also ranks first in mathematical sciences (71), first in biological sciences (398), first in health (63), and third in physical sciences (197) per 100,000 employed workers.¹
Maryland ranks second in the percentage of professional and technical workers (26.1%) in the workforce.²
Maryland ranks second in the percentage of the population age 25 and above with a graduate or professional degree (16.4%), and third in the percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher (36.1%).³
Maryland ranks fourth in the concentration of technology jobs, which employ 87 of every 1,000 private sector workers. Further, the state ranks fourth by employment in space and defense systems manufacturing, sixth in computer systems design, and eighth in engineering services.⁴
Maryland ranks fifth in federal government employment, with 131,855 non-military federal jobs in 2009. On a per capita basis, the state ranks third with 231 jobs per 10,000 residents. Non-military federal jobs generate $11.4 billion in total wages in Maryland, ranking fourth among the states. Further, these jobs pay better in Maryland than in any other state, with an average annual wage of $87,767, which is 28% higher than the national average. ⁵

Research & Development

Johns Hopkins University ranks first among U.S. colleges and universities in total National Institutes of Health awards, including grants and contracts for research, development, training and fellowships ($610 million). ⁶
Maryland ranks second in National Institutes of Health research and development contract awards ($525 million). On a per capita basis, the state ranks first with over $92 in NIH contracts per Maryland resident.⁷
Johns Hopkins University ranks first among academic institutions in the nation in research and development expenditures, totaling $1.86 billion in FY 2009. The university also ranks first in federally funded research ($1.59 billion).⁸
Maryland ranks second in federal obligations for research and development ($13.3 billion). On a per capita basis, Maryland ranks first among the states in federal R&D obligations.⁹
Maryland ranks third in research and development intensity, which is the ratio of R&D expenditures to gross domestic product (GDP) by state. Maryland ranks ninth in total R&D performance, first in federal intramural R&D, sixth in state government R&D, and fourth in R&D performed at universities and colleges. ¹⁰

Entrepreneurship

Maryland holds the following rankings for women and minority business ownership:

First in the percentage of women-owned firms as a share of all firms (32.6%); and sixth in the percent of women-owned firms with employees (7.4%)
Second in the percentage of African American-owned firms as a share of all firms (19.3%); first in the percent of African American-owned firms with employees (2.1%); and seventh in the total number of African American owned firms (102,130)
Seventh in the percentage of Asian-owned firms as a share of all firms (6.8%); and first in the percent of Asian-owned firms with employees (3.2%)
12th in the percentage of Hispanic-owned firms as a share of all firms (4.9%); and 13th in the percent of Hispanic-owned firms with employees (1.1%) ¹¹

Maryland ranks second per capita and third overall in Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) awards. Small businesses in Maryland received $119 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration in FY 2010 through the highly competitive SBIR Program (equating to $20.53 per capita).¹²
For the ninth consecutive year, the Washington DC metro (which includes parts of Maryland) ranks first among metros with 49 companies on Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Among states, Maryland ranks seventh with 18 companies in the top 500, and third per capita with 3.1 companies per million residents. Also, Maryland is the fifth largest job creating state with 20,074 jobs created by Inc. 5000 companies.¹³
Among large metros, CNN Money ranks Baltimore as the tenth best place to launch a small business.¹⁴

New Economy

Maryland maintained its second place ranking in the Milken Institute’s State Technology and Science Index for 2010. According to study results, Maryland received high rankings in human capital investment, research and development inputs, technology and science workforce, and technology concentration and dynamism. The Index provides measurements of the technology and science assets for states, ranking them on their ability to foster and sustain a technology sector, which research has shown is a crucial factor in determining a region's future economic success. The previous study was conducted in 2008.¹⁵
Maryland ranks third in the 2010 State New Economy Index a measure of a state’s economy as knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, information technology-driven and innovation-based.¹⁶
Maryland has the fourth largest cluster of biotechnology companies in the U.S.¹⁷
In the 2011 Business Facilities Ranking Report, Maryland ranks third in biotechnology strength based on R&D and venture capital investment, employment, tax exemptions, facilities, patents and higher education. Further, the state ranks first in education climate, fourth in average wages and seventh in workforce health and safety.¹⁸
Baltimore ranks eighth in Forbes’ 2010 list of America’s Most Wired Cities for internet broadband adoption, the range of internet service providers, and the availability of public wireless hot spots.¹⁹

Government & Business Support

Maryland is one of only eight states with a “triple triple” general obligation bond rating from the three major bond rating houses—Maryland has the longest running Triple-A rating with a “stable” outlook from Standard & Poor’s, dating back to 1961.²⁰
According to a recent study on business taxes by Ernst & Young, Maryland businesses pay the second lowest share of state and local taxes. Maryland business taxes account for 31.5% of total taxes collected in the state, compared with 46.0% for the national average. Since the study's inception in FY 2003, Maryland has ranked among the top three states for lowest business tax burden.²¹
In a study by Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center, Maryland ranks first for its ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) website. The study ranks states on the effectiveness of their websites in conveying information about categories of stimulus spending, as well as their geographic distribution and employment impact.²²
Maryland ranks fifth among top growth performers according to the Enterprising States study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Chamber Foundation. With a strong orientation toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Maryland has focused its resources on shoring up and reenergizing its economy by supporting businesses and jobs in advanced technology, defense systems and health sciences. Further, Maryland ranks fourth in the Workforce and Training component of the study and sevent in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.²³
Maryland ranks second in per capita procurement of goods and services ($4,594 per Maryland resident) and fourth in total procurement of goods and services ($26.5 billion); third in per capita total expenditures, which includes procurement, salaries, wages and grants ($16,673 per Maryland resident), and ninth in total expenditures ($96.3 billion); and fifth in per capita Defense Department expenditures ($3,235 per Maryland resident), and sixth in total Defense Department expenditures ($18.7 billion).²⁴
Among U.S. cities with populations exceeding two million, Baltimore ranks fourth for its favorable business tax structure according to a study by KPMG International. Among 41 large international cities studied, Baltimore ranks 14th overall.²⁵
According to fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times, Baltimore ranks fourth among major cities for the quality of its infrastructure. ²⁶

Education

According to Quality Counts, Education Week’s annual assessment of key indicators of student success, Maryland’s K-12 public school system ranks first for the third year in a row. Maryland scores particularly well in “Transitions and Alignment,” which assesses how well states smooth the transition through the educational pipeline, including early-childhood education, college readiness, and the economy and workforce.²⁷
Maryland is home to 13 higher education institutions designated by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance education and research, more than any other state in the nation.²⁸
For the third year in a row, Maryland ranks first in the percentage of 2010 public high school graduates who scored at the mastery level on Advanced Placement (AP) exams, with 26.4 percent earning a score of 3 or higher. Further, Maryland ranks second in the percentage of graduating seniors who took an AP exam, and first in the percentage who took an AP exam in the mathematics and science disciplines.²⁹
Newsweek ranks Maryland first in its 2009 Challenge Index, which identifies the most challenging public high schools in the U.S. based on enrollment in college-level courses. Maryland ranks first in both the percentage of schools that made the Newsweek list of top high schools (29.5%), and the percentage of high school students attending these schools (31.6%).³⁰
According to U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges survey, Johns Hopkins University holds the following rankings:
o 13th overall among top national universities that offer doctoral degrees
o third among top research medical schools
o first in both undergraduate and graduate biomedical engineering
o first in nursing
o first in graduate public health ³¹
According to U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges survey, the University of Maryland, College Park holds the following rankings:
o top ten rankings in undergraduate management, management information systems and supply chain management/logistics, and fifth in graduate business information systems
o top ten in graduate atomic/molecular/optical physics, condensed matter, plasma physics and quantum physics
o top ten in graduate and undergraduate aerospace engineering
o first in graduate criminology³²
Other Maryland colleges/universities that rank highly in the U.S. News and World Report survey include:
o The University of Maryland Baltimore County ranks first among up-and-coming national universities
o The United States Naval Academy ranks first and St. Mary’s College of Maryland ranks fifth among top public liberal arts colleges in the nation
o The University of Maryland, Baltimore ranks ninth for its pharmacy program³³
The University of Maryland, College Park places eighth in a Kiplinger ranking of the 100 best values among public college for 2012 based on a combination of academics and affordability. Four other Maryland public institutions also make the top 100, including St. Mary’s College, Salisbury University, Towson University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 34

Income & Wealth

Maryland has the highest median household income for 2010 at $68,854, which is 38% above the national median.³⁵
Maryland has the second lowest poverty rate for 2010, with 9.9% of the population living in poverty, compared with 15.3% for the U.S. as a whole.³⁶
Maryland is home to four of the top 25 counties in the nation for median household income. Among all 3,100 U.S. counties, Howard County ranks fifth ($101,003), Montgomery 13th ($92,213), Calvert 14th ($90,621) and Charles 21st ($86,141).³⁷
Among combined metro areas in the U.S., the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area (CSA) ranks third in total Effective Buying Income, with $242 billion. The CSA ranks fourth in total retail sales ($137 billion), and is home to 8.3 million residents.³⁸

Quality of Life

For the twenty-first consecutive year, Johns Hopkins Hospital ranks first in the U.S. News honor roll of best hospitals in the nation, demonstrating outstanding competence in fifteen specialties.³⁹
Maryland ranks second in active physicians per 100,000 population, with over 24,100 doctors statewide.⁴⁰
According to a report on the economic status of women in the U.S., Maryland ranks second overall, trailing only the District of Columbia.⁴¹
Bethesda ranks second and Baltimore eighth in Forbes’ ranking of “America’s Most Livable Cities” based on income, employment, cost of living and crime, for metropolitan areas with a population of 500,000 or greater.⁴²
Columbia/Ellicott City, Maryland is ranked second among America’s “Best Places to Live” for 2010, up from eighth in 2008, the last Money magazine ranking of small cities. The area is cited for its wide range of housing, ample parkland, excellent schools and diverse population. Gaithersburg in Montgomery County places 25^th in the ranking of top 100 small cities. ⁴³