Baltimore, Maryland
| Baltimore, Maryland | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Baltimore
Brandon Scott | |
| Last mayoral election: | November 5, 2024 |
| Next mayoral election: | November 7, 2028 |
| Last city council election: | November 5, 2024 |
| Next city council election: | November 7, 2028 |
| City council seats: | 15 |
| City website | |
| Composition data (2019) | |
| Population: | 609,032 |
| Race: | White 30.5% African American 62.4% Asian 2.6% Native American 0.3% Pacific Islander 0.0% Two or more 2.5% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic 5.3% |
| Median household income: | $50,379 |
| High school graduation rate: | 85.2% |
| College graduation rate: | 31.9% |
| Related Baltimore offices | |
| Maryland Congressional Delegation Maryland State Legislature Maryland state executive offices | |
Baltimore is an independent city in Maryland. The city's population was 585,708 as of 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
- Mayor
- City council
- Other elected officials
- Elections
- Census information
- Budget
- Contact information
- Ballot measures
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Baltimore utilizes a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive. He or she is responsible for proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels. The current Mayor of Baltimore is Brandon Scott (D). Scott assumed office in 2020.
City council
The Baltimore City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances.[1]
The city council is made up of 15 members. Fourteen members are elected by the city's 14 districts, while the city council president, who presides over council meetings, is elected at large.[1]
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords that Voterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
Other elected officials
Mayoral partisanship
Baltimore has a Democratic mayor. As of December 2024, 65 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 24 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, four are independents, four identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2024
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, held general elections for mayor, comptroller, city council, and circuit court judges on November 5, 2024. A primary was scheduled for May 14, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was February 9, 2024.
2022
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, held general elections for register of wills, sheriff, state's attorney, circuit court clerk, circuit court judges, and orphans' court judges on November 8, 2022. A primary was scheduled for July 19, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was April 15, 2022.
2020
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, held general elections for mayor, city comptroller, and 15 city council seats on November 3, 2020. A primary was scheduled for June 2, 2020. The filing deadline for this election was January 24, 2020.
2018
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, held general elections for state's attorney, clerk of the circuit court, register of wills, and sheriff on November 6, 2018. The primary was on June 26, 2018. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was February 27, 2018.
2016
The city of Baltimore, Maryland, held elections for mayor and city council on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on April 26, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was February 3, 2016. All 15 city council seats were up for election.
Baltimore held elections for the city council and mayor in November 2011. Normally, the next election would have taken place in 2015, but in 2012 the city of Baltimore chose to move its municipal elections from odd years to even years to align them with state and federal elections.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Baltimore | |
|---|---|
| Baltimore | |
| Population | 585,708 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 80 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 28.4% |
| Black/African American | 61.2% |
| Asian | 2.6% |
| Native American | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander | 0% |
| Two or more | 4.4% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.9% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 87.1% |
| College graduation rate | 34.9% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $58,349 |
| Persons below poverty level | 14.5% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2017-2022). | |
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | |
Budget
The city's budget process operates by fiscal years running from July 1 to June 30 of the next year. The mayor is responsible for identifying the city's objectives and key strategies for the budget. The city agencies will submit budget proposals based on the city's objectives and key strategies. The Department of Finance will evaluate the proposals and make funding recommendations to the mayor. The Director of Finance will send the recommended operating budget to the Board of Estimates. The city's Board of Estimates is made up of five members: the mayor, the president of the city council, the comptroller, the city solicitor, and the Director of Public Works. The Board of Estimates will hold a hearing called a "Taxpayers’ Night" to allow for public input in the budget process. A majority vote by the board is required to approve the budget. After it is approved by the board, it is sent to the city council for approval. The city council will hold another public hearing for resident input on the budget. The city council will then vote on the budget and send it to the mayor.[2]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[3]
| “ |
FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[4] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[5] | ||
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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Historical total revenue and expenditure
To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[3]
Baltimore, Maryland, salaries and pensions over $95,000
Below is a map of the nationwide salaries and pensions in this city over $95,000. To search a different ZIP code, enter it in the search bar within the map.
Contact information
Mayor's office
City Hall, Room 250
100 N. Holliday Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: 410-396-3835
Click here for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
The city of Baltimore is an independent city, meaning that it is not part of the surrounding Baltimore County. A list of ballot measures in Baltimore is available here.
Noteworthy events
2020: Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including Baltimore, following the death of George Floyd. Events in Baltimore, Maryland, began downtown on Friday, May 29, 2020.[6] No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.
2015: Freddie Gray death
On April 19, 2015, a Black resident of Baltimore, Maryland, named Freddie Gray died from a severe spinal injury, which he sustained during the course of an arrest that took place on April 12, 2015, in a west Baltimore neighborhood. The Baltimore Sun compiled a detailed timeline and summary of the incident. It can be accessed here.
In the aftermath of Gray's death, protests began in Baltimore. On April 27, 2015, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard. At the same time, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake established a citywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.[7] On April 28, Hogan pledged to send at least 1,000 additional National Guard troops to maintain peace in the midst of protests. In response to criticisms of the state's delayed response, Hogan suggested that an emergency order had been ready on April 25, but the governor's office waited for a response from Rawlings-Blake before mobilizing state resources.[8]
Judge Barry G. Williams was chosen to preside over the trial of the six police officers indicted in the case. The defendants were Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, Sgt. Alicia D. White, Lt. Brian W. Rice, and Officer William G. Porter, each charged with manslaughter, and Officers Edward M. Nero and Garrett E. Miller, charged with second-degree assault. On June 22, 2015, all officers pleaded not guilty.
Nero, Goodson, and Rice were acquitted by Williams following bench trials in May 2016, June 2016, and July 2016, respectively. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Miller, Porter, and White on July 27, 2016.[9][10][11][12]
2015: Study on city's nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described Baltimore, Maryland, as a city or county that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[13]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baltimore City Council, "About City Council," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ City of Baltimore, "Baltimore City Budget Process," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ CBS 13 WJZ, "George Floyd Death: Protest Held In Baltimore’s Inner Harbor," May 29, 2020
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Rioting rocks Baltimore: Hogan declares emergency, activates Guard," April 28, 2015
- ↑ The Baltimore Sun, "Gov. Larry Hogan promises more than 1,000 additional troops, vows to prevent rioting," April 28, 2015
- ↑ The Baltimore Sun, "Freddie Gray case: Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero found not guilty of all charges," May 23, 2016
- ↑ The Baltimore Sun, "Freddie Gray Case: Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. Found Not Guilty on All Charges," June 23, 2016
- ↑ The Baltimore Sun, "Judge Acquits Lt. Brian Rice of All Charges in Freddie Gray Case," July 18, 2016
- ↑ The Baltimore Sun, "Charges Dropped, Freddie Gray Case Concludes with Zero Convictions against Officers," July 27, 2016
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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