Baltimore city area

Population and density of Baltimore city

The Census Bureau estimates that 569,997 people lived in Baltimore city on July 1, 2025. That ranks #126 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #5 of 24 in Maryland. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 585,729, the population has declined by 15,732 (−2.7%), compared with +1.4% for Maryland as a whole.

With 80.9 square miles of land, that is 7,042 people per square mile (2,719 per km²), placing Baltimore city #15 nationally for density and #1 in Maryland. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Maryland median is 335. Put another way, there are about 0.091 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Baltimore city

Every resident of Baltimore city lives within Baltimore city. The city and the county equivalent cover the same territory, 80.9 square miles of land in the 2026 place Gazetteer, so there are no separate towns or unincorporated areas to list.

Metropolitan area

Baltimore city is a central county of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 7 county equivalents have 2,857,781 residents on 2,601.5 square miles of land; Baltimore city accounts for 3.1% of the land and 19.9% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #125 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #22 by population. It belongs to the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

33 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Baltimore city; 23 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

212012120221205212062120721208212092121021211212122121321214212152121621217212182122221223212242122521226212272122821229212302123121233212342123621237212392125121287

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Baltimore city

Baltimore city shares a land border with 2 county equivalents. Each of them has more land than Baltimore city. The largest neighbor is Baltimore County (598.4 mi²) and the smallest is Anne Arundel County (414.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Baltimore city forms a block of 1,094.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 7.4%.

How big is Baltimore city compared with U.S. states?

Baltimore city has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 13 times as much. Maryland’s county land could hold about 120 areas the size of Baltimore city.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 9.00 miles (14.5 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Baltimore city?

Baltimore city has more land than 124 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Baltimore city at #3,114 nationally by total area, 16 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 12.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 10.9 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Baltimore city in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.