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State of Maryland

Maryland is a Mid-Atlantic state located on the East Coast of the United States. According to the most recent information provided by the 2005 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau -- the State of Maryland is the second most wealthy state in the United States, with a median household income of $61,592.

Maryland has the sole distinction amongst states as the donor of the land holding the United States capital, Washington, D.C. The portions were taken from Montgomery and Prince George's counties. There has been recent talk of giving the land back to Maryland because of a push for D.C. voting rights. Retrocession would take a simple act of Congress.

Maryland's economy is diverse, but it has become popular for its leadership as a Life Sciences epicenter. The industry has become a top priority for the state. There are over 350 Biotechnology firms, making it third-largest cluster in the nation. Institutions and agencies located throughout Maryland like Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), etc. have fueled the Life Sciences growth in the state.

Maryland is classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a South-Atlantic state. It was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and is nicknamed the Old Line State and the Free State. Its history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and Southern regions of the United States.

Maryland has a remarkably varied climate. It depends on various factors such as elevation, rainfall, and proximity to a body of water (most significantly, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean). There are three main climate regions in Maryland.

The Eastern Shore region and part of the Western Shore are part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This region gets hot, humid summers and cool to chilly but fairly short winters, with a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa). This region includes the cities of Salisbury, Annapolis, Ocean City, and the southern and eastern parts of greater Baltimore.

Beyond this region lies the Piedmont which has a warm humid continental climate (Koppen Dfa) of hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters where significant snowfall is an annual occurrence. This region includes Frederick, Hagerstown, and northern and western parts of metro Baltimore.

Extreme western Maryland, in the higher elevations of Allegany County and Garrett County has a colder continental climate (Koppen Dfb) due to elevation (more typical of inland New England and the Midwestern U.S.) with warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters.

Precipitation in the state is very generous, as it is on most of the East Coast. Annual rainfall ranges from 40-45 inches (1000-1150 mm) in virtually every part of the state, falling very evenly. Nearly every part of Maryland receives 3.5-4.5 inches (95-110 mm) per month of precipitation. Snowfall varies from 9 inches (23 cm) in the coastal areas to over 100 inches (250 cm) a winter in the western mountains of the state.

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 to the south provide a large buffer, such that a strike from a major hurricane(category 3 or above) is not very likely. More often, Maryland might get the remnants of a tropical system which has already come ashore which dumps a huge amount of rain. Maryland averages around 30-40 days of thunderstorms a year, and averages around 6 tornado strikes annually.

As of 2005, Maryland has an estimated population of 5,600,388, which is an increase of 39,056, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 303,882, or 5.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 165,707 people (that is 395,775 births minus 230,068 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 118,724 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 108,972 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 9,752 people.

Most of the population of Maryland lives in the central region of the state, in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The Eastern Shore is less populous and more rural, as are the counties of western and southern Maryland.

The three counties of Western Maryland (Allegany, Garrett, and Washington) are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling West Virginia more than they do the rest of Maryland. Although the African American proportion is not as high as it was during the eighteenth century peak of tobacco plantation production (when it was 38%), Maryland still has the largest black population of any state outside of the Deep South. Maryland also has the south's second largest Korean American population, trailing only Texas. In fact, 1.7% are Korean, while as a whole, almost 6.0% are Asian.

The center of population of Maryland is located on the county line between Anne Arundel County and Howard County, in the unincorporated town of Jessup.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maryland's gross state product in 2004 was US$228 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was US$37,446, 5^th in the nation. Average household income in 2002 was US$53,043, also 5^th in the nation.

Maryland's economic activity is strongly concentrated in the tertiary service sector, and this sector, in turn, is strongly influenced by location. One major service activity is transportation, centered around the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access. The port ranked 10th in the U.S. by tonnage in 2002 (Source: U.S. Corps of Engineers, "Waterborn Commerce Statistics"). 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 different brands of imported motor vehicles.

A second service activity takes advantage of the close location of the center of government in Washington, D.C. and emphasizes 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. In addition many educational and medical research institutions are located in the state. In fact, the various components of 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% of Maryland's labor force, one of the highest state percentages in the country.

Maryland's Interstate highways include I-95, which enters the northeast portion of the state, goes through Baltimore, and becomes part of the eastern section of the Capital Beltway to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. I-68 connects the western portions of the state to I-70 at the small town of Hancock. I-70 continues east to Baltimore, connecting Hagerstown and Frederick along the way. I-83 connects Baltimore to southern central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and York, Pennsylvania). Maryland also has a portion of I-81 that runs through the state near Hagerstown. I-97, fully contained within Anne Arundel County and the shortest one- or two-digit Interstate highway outside of Hawaii, connects the Baltimore area to the Annapolis area.

There are also several auxiliary Interstate highways in Maryland. Among them are I-695, the McKeldin (Baltimore) Beltway, which encircles Baltimore; a portion of I-495, the Capital Beltway, which encircles Washington, D.C.; and I-270, which connects the Frederick area with the Washington area. The Capital Beltway is currently heavily congested, however, the ICC or Intercounty Connector, which may begin construction in 2006 or early 2007, could be the beginning of an outer, second beltway. Construction of the ICC was a major part of the campaign platform of Governor Robert Ehrlich, who took office in 2003.

Maryland also has a state highway system that contains routes numbered from 2 through 999, however most of the higher-numbered routes are either not signed or are relatively short. Major state highways include Routes 2 (Governor Ritchie Highway/Solomons Island Road), 4, 32, 100, 295 (Baltimore-Washington Parkway), and 404.

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State of Maryland