Baltimore County is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state. Baltimore County partly surrounds but does not include the independent city of Baltimore. It is part of the Northeast megalopolis, which stretches from Northern Virginia in the south to Boston in the north and includes major American population centers, including New York City and Philadelphia. Major economic sectors in the county include education, government, and health care. As of the 2020 census, the population was 854,535. The county is home to several universities, including Goucher College, Stevenson University, Towson University, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland. The population was 44,701 at the 2020 US Census. The community is a streetcar suburb of Baltimore along the city's western border. The town is known for its proximity to the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley State Park, making it a regional mountain biking hub. The town is also notable as a local hotbed of music, earning it the official nickname of "Music City, Maryland." Catonsville contains the majority of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a major public research university with close to 14,000 students.
Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,674. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus of the Baltimore Metro Subway, and housed the Owings Mills Mall until its closure in 2015. It is also home to the Baltimore Ravens' headquarters facility, and the studios for Maryland Public Television. In 2008, CNNMoney.com named Owings Mills number 49 of the "100 Best Places to Live and Launch".
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. There are 80 bus lines serving the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, along with rail services that include the Light Rail, Metro Subway, and MARC Train. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 52,922,000, or about 216,900 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs and the first university research park in Maryland. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".
Hunt Valley is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the Maryland Hunt Cup Steeplechase. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along York Road, parallel to Interstate 83. The nearby Loch Raven Reservoir is an important landmark and drinking water resource. Its surrounding forested watershed is one of three reservoirs established for the City of Baltimore. Hunt Valley is located at a latitude of 39.5° North and longitude of 76.7° West. It is served by the Cockeysville post office, and is also a neighbor of Timonium. A satellite campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, one of the three supplemental campuses of CCBC, uses a leased building located at 11101 McCormick Road, a business park in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
Stevenson University is a private university in Baltimore County, Maryland with two campuses, one in Stevenson and one in Owings Mills. The university enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and graduate students. Formerly known as Villa Julie College, the name was changed to Stevenson University in 2008.
Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL), established in 1948, is a public library system located in central Maryland and headquartered in Towson, Maryland BCPL serves Baltimore County, Maryland, which surrounds but does not include the city of Baltimore. Still, occasionally the two library systems share resources and expertise.
Harford Community College is a public community college in Bel Air, Maryland. It was established as Harford Junior College in September 1957 with 116 students in the buildings and on the campus of the Bel Air High School in the county seat. The Bel Air campus of 1964 occupies 332 acres (1.34 km2) and now has 21 buildings totaling over 287,000 square feet (26,700 m2).
Baltimore County Public Schools is the school district in charge of all public schools in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is the 25th largest school system in the US as of 2013. The school system is managed by the board of education, headquartered in Towson. Since July 1, 2023, the superintendent is Myriam Rogers.
The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. As of 2022, the combined population of the seven counties is 2,985,871, making it the 20th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation.
Maryland has a number of major and minor professional sports franchises. Two National Football League teams play in Maryland, the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore and the Washington Commanders in Prince George's County. The Baltimore Orioles compete as Major League Baseball franchise in Baltimore.
Owings Mills Boulevard is a county- and state-maintained highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 7.8 miles (12.6 km) from Liberty Road near Randallstown north to Bond Avenue near Glyndon. Maryland Route 940 is the designation for the 1.48-mile (2.38 km) state highway portion of Owings Mills Boulevard between Red Run Boulevard and MD 140 that is centered on Owings Mills Boulevard's interchange with Interstate 795 (I-795) in Owings Mills in western Baltimore County. Owings Mills Boulevard was first constructed in the mid- to late 1980s. The highway was extended both north and south in the early 1990s and in the early 2000s. Owings Mills Boulevard was extended south in two sections, with the latter section completed to MD 26 in 2016.
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) is the association that oversees public high school sporting contests in the state of Maryland. Formed in 1946, the MPSSAA is made up of public high schools from each of Maryland's 23 counties and independent city of Baltimore, which joined the association in 1993 when its public high schools withdrew from the earlier longtime athletic league, the Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA) which was founded in 1919. The MSA had been composed of public high schools in Baltimore and private/religious/independent schools on the secondary level in Baltimore and its metropolitan area and the surrounding central Maryland region. It was one of the few state-level interscholastic athletic leagues in the nation composed of both public and private/religious/independent secondary schools. After the Baltimore City public high schools withdrew from the MSA, the remaining private/religious/independent schools conferred and organized two parallel regional/state-wide athletic leagues with sports competition and exercise activities with one for young men and the other for young women. These were the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland, which still exist today. All three state-wide athletic leagues, two for private/religious/independent secondary schools and one for co-ed public high schools exist today marrying on the proud traditions, memories and championships of the old Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA)—one of the oldest state athletic leagues for secondary schools in the country.
Route 77 is a bus route operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in the suburbs of Baltimore. The line currently runs from the Old Court Metro Subway Station in Pikesville, Maryland, to the Patapsco Light Rail Stop and serves Randallstown, Windsor Mill, Woodlawn, Catonsville, Arbutus, Halethorpe, and Lansdowne as well as the campuses of UMBC and CCBC Catonsville.
LocalLink 62 is a bus route in the suburbs of Baltimore, United States. The line currently runs from the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County to Turner's Station in Dundalk. The current route serves the Rosedale, Middle River, and Essex areas and the CCBC Essex and Dundalk campuses. The line was previously known as Route 4 prior to the launch of BalitmoreLink. LocalLink Route 62 replaced the entirety of Route 4 on June 18, 2017.
UMBC Transit is the official bus system of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Along with the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), the UMBC community has public transit access to nearby areas such as Catonsville, Arbutus, Maryland, and Baltimore City.
