Maryland's leading industries by employment are health care, social assistance, state and local government, retail trade, and professional and technical services. Maryland's Gross State Product (GSP) was $295.4 billion in 2010.U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2010. Total full-time and part-time employment. The Government sector produced $52.1 billion and accounted for 18 percent of Maryland's GSP in 2009. Federal government, including military and civilian, accounted for slightly more than half at just over $27 billion, while state and local government combined for nearly $25 billion. The Fort George G. Meade military installation, which includes employees of the National Security Agency, is the state's biggest employer at 44,540.Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, 2011. The largest private sector industry is real estate with $48.4 billion, or 17 percent of economic activity.U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2010. Large private employers in Maryland include Black & Decker, Legg Mason, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, ZeniMax Media, McCormick & Company, Perdue Farms, General Motors, IBM, Northrop Grumman, and Verizon.
The state has more than 50 federal agencies and research facilities, including the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, National Security Agency, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Maryland also has several universities, including the University System of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, which receives more research dollars than any university in the country.National Science Foundation, data for FY 2009.
Maryland ranked second in the Milken Institute’s State Technology and Science Index, which ranks states on their ability to foster and sustain a technology sector. In the report, Maryland was noted for its human capital investment, research and development inputs, technology, and science workforce, and technology concentration and dynamism.State Technology and Science Index: Enduring Lessons for the Intangible Economy. Milken Institute. January 2011. The state also has a high concentration of managers, professionals and college-educated residents working in knowledge jobs, and an infrastructure to support technological innovation, according to the 2010 State New Economy Index.2010 State New Economy Index. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
Organizations in Maryland received $525 million for their research and development (R&D) awards from the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of Health, data for FY 2009. and $11.6 billion in total R&D federal obligations, ranking first among states on a per capita basis.National Science Foundation and U.S. Bureau of the Census. Data for FY 2007. Maryland totaled $3.02 billion in R&D expenditures at universities and colleges in FY 2009, with federal government R&D spending at Maryland universities and colleges totaling $2.24 billion.National Science Foundation. Data for FY 2009.
Workforce Maryland's civilian labor force consistently numbers more than three million workers, with state unemployment tending to be higher in the more rural counties of the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland, as well as Baltimore City.Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. Employment page. Retrieved 04-16-2012. Counties in the highly developed corridor between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where nearly 90% of Maryland's 5.7 million residents live,Maryland State Data Center. Data for 2009. typically experience the lowest unemployment rates, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation and Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.
Professional and technical workers in Maryland total just over a quarter of the workforce.American Community Survey. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 2010. With 270,000 information technology (IT) workers, the Baltimore-Washington region is ranked first in concentration of IT employment, even greater than Silicon Valley and Boston.“Information Technology in Greater Baltimore,” page 24. Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (assessment using Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates). May 2007. Maryland ranks first in employed PhD scientists and engineers per 100,000 employed workers, with high concentrations of workers in mathematical sciences, biological sciences, health, and physical sciences, according to the National Science Foundation.National Science Foundation, data for 2008; and U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than 36 percent of all Marylanders aged 25 or above have completed a bachelor's degree or higher, and 16.4 percent have a graduate or professional degree.
Education
Public school system According to Quality Counts, Education Week’s annual assessment of key indicators of student success, Maryland’s K-12 public school system ranked first nationally for the third year in a row. Maryland scored 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.Quality Counts. Education Week. January 11, 2011.
Maryland also ranks first nationally for the third year in a row in the percentage of 2010 public high school graduates who scored at the mastery level on Advanced Placement (AP) exams, and second in the percentage of graduating seniors who took an AP exam. Further, the state ranks first in the percentage who took an AP exam in the mathematics and science disciplines.Seventh Annual AP Report to the Nation. The College Board. February 2011. Newsweek rates Maryland first in the nation 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%).2009 Challenge Index. Newsweek. June 2009.
Each year, Expansion Management magazine publishes its “Education Quotient” ranking 2,800 secondary school districts nationwide. Based on this data, the magazine ranks the Washington, DC region and Baltimore metro area first and fifth, respectively, as best public education systems for metropolitan areas with populations over one million.Education Quotient. Expansion Management magazine. 2007.
Colleges and universities
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) ranks third among top research medical schools, and excels in the specialties of AIDS, drug/alcohol abuse, geriatrics, internal medicine, pediatrics, and women’s health. Hopkins also performed well in both undergraduate and graduate biomedical engineering and in graduate public health, according to the 2010 Editions of U.S. News & World Report, America’s Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools.America’s Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools. U.S. News & World Report. 2010 Edition. The university ranks first among U.S. colleges and universities with $610 million in total National Institutes of Health awards, including grants and contracts for research, development, training, and fellowships. The University also ranks first among academic institutions in the nation in R&D expenditures, totaling $1.86 billion in FY 2009; and first in federally funded research totaling nearly $1.6 billion.National Institutes of Health, data for FY 2010; National Science Foundation, data for FY 2009.
The University of Maryland, College Park is noted for its undergraduate management information systems and supply chain management/logistics. The school's strengths include graduate business information systems; atomic/molecular/optical/physics, condensed matter and quantum physics; and aerospace engineering.U.S. News & World Report, America’s Best Colleges 2012 and Best Graduate Schools 2013 Editions. The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business ranks 10th among top regional business schools in the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Survey.Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Survey. The Wall Street Journal. September 17, 2007.
According to a U.S. News & World Report survey, the University of Maryland Baltimore County ranks first among up-and-coming national universities, the United States Naval Academy ranks first among top public liberal arts colleges and St. Mary's College of Maryland ranks fifth among top public liberal arts colleges.U.S. News & World Report, America's Best Colleges 2012 and Best Graduate Schools 2013 Editions.
Business resources Business resources and monetary incentives are available through Maryland’s private investors, federal agencies, universities, and other state resources.
Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED)
In FY 2010, DBED provided financial assistance to 134 Maryland projects across the state, which has leveraged $780 million in capital investment and helped create 4,976 new jobs while retaining 3,161 jobs for Maryland residents. Maryland’s Small Business Development Centers helped connect small businesses with 274 loans with a value of $37 million, and connected 350 small businesses with $72 million worth of procurement training from the Procurement Training Assistance Program (PTAP).Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. 2010 Annual Report.
Venture capital The Maryland State Legislature on April 11, 2011 passed InvestMaryland (HB 173), Governor O'Malley's economic development initiative to fuel venture capital investment. Coordinated in part by DBED, the fund will raise approximately $75 million in venture capital for Maryland start-up companies through a tax credit auction for qualifying insurance companies.Flook, Bill, (April 15, 2011). "With InvestMaryland’s passage, state mulls how to deliver." Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
For the fifth year in a row, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as the top early-stage venture capital investor in the nation.Top 100 Venture Capital Firms. Entrepreneur Magazine. August 2008. MAVA's Investment Report 2007-2008 revealed that: In the Mid-Atlantic Region—Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Delaware—there are 224 investment firms; over those two years, 235 companies in the Mid-Atlantic region received $1.768 billion in venture capital; and software led the way among those companies, with 102 investments at $433 million (or 25 percent) of the $1.768 billion. This translates to an average over $4 million per company.MAVA's Investment Report. Mid-Atlantic Venture Association. 2007-2008.
Maryland ranks ninth in the U.S. in the number of venture capital deals (67) for 2009. New Enterprise Associates, a Baltimore-based venture firm, was the most active venture investor in the nation in 2009.MoneyTree Report. PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (with data provided by Thomson Financial).
Small business support Maryland ranks second per capita and fourth overall in Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) awards. Small businesses in Maryland received $102 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration in FY 2009 through the highly competitive SBIR Program.U.S. Small Business Administration. Data for FY 2009.
Government policies and expenditures
Business tax structure
State Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business IndexCost of Doing Business Index. Milken Institute. 2007. New York Massachusetts California New Jersey Maryland Washington Illinois Pennsylvania