Census-designated place · Baltimore County, Maryland

Arbutus, Maryland

Arbutus is a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, part of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area. It has 22,507 residents. Arbutus, Maryland has a quality-of-life score of 65 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,503 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Maryland it ranks #167 of 334 cities and towns. It ranks best on natural hazard risk (low), public transit commuters (high) and access to exercise opportunities (high). It ranks worst on property crime rate (high), time spent in the emergency room (high) and high ozone days (high).

65High

Quality-of-life score: #5,503 of 15,651 cities and towns
Maryland: #167 of 334 in MD
Population: 22,507 (2020-2024)
Land area: 7 mi²
Density: 3,448.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 2401975

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety18#12,813/15,637
Economy64#5,658/15,631
Housing64#5,326/14,977
Health65#5,406/15,609
Healthcare79#3,221/15,650
Environment52#7,341/15,453
Education51#7,723/15,649
Infrastructure85#2,291/15,650
Community50#7,841/15,651
Leisure & amenities56#6,861/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Arbutus, Maryland ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Baltimore County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Natural hazard risk · low1.2
99/100Maryland 4.72025Federal Emergency Management AgencyBaltimore County value
Public transit commuters · high3.7%
90/100Maryland 4.2%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Access to exercise opportunities · high97.0%
87/100Maryland 92.1%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBaltimore County value
Distance to an emergency room · low3.5 mi
87/100Maryland 4.6 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBaltimore County value
Flu vaccinations · high52.0%
83/100Maryland 48.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBaltimore County value
Mental health providers · high472 /100k
83/100Maryland 394 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBaltimore County value

Weaknesses

Property crime rate · high2,412 /100k
6/100Maryland 1,820 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationBaltimore County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high230 min
8/100Maryland 246 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBaltimore County value
High ozone days · high5 days
15/100Maryland 2 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBaltimore County value
Violent crime rate · high408 /100k
16/100Maryland 358 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationBaltimore County value
Job growth · low-1.6%
17/100Maryland -1.7%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataBaltimore County value
Public libraries · low0.3 /10k
17/100Maryland 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBaltimore County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
19,292 (2015-2019) → 22,507 (2020-2024)
+17%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
28.0% (2015-2019) → 41.8% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.2% (2015-2019) → 95.6% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
47.7% (2015-2019) → 41.0% (2020-2024)
−6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$76,801 (2015-2019) → $99,090 (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateWorsening
11.7% (2015-2019) → 16.0% (2020-2024)
+4.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Arbutus, Maryland improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Bachelor's++14 points28.0% → 41.8%
Broadband+11 points84.2% → 95.6%
Household income+29%$76,801 → $99,090

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Arbutus, Maryland between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.2 min2015-2019	24.5 min2020-2024	+0.3 min	Within the margin of error	44%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.0%2015-2019	41.8%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	96%
Broadband subscriptions	84.2%2015-2019	95.6%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	66%
Child poverty rate	11.7%2015-2019	16.0%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Effective property tax rate	1.18%2015-2019	1.03%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	48%
High school diploma or higher	91.3%2015-2019	91.9%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	68%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3972015-2019	0.4042020-2024	+0.007	Within the margin of error	44%
Median household income	$76,8012015-2019	$99,0902020-2024	+29%	Improved	53%
Poverty rate	11.7%2015-2019	14.0%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Public transit commuters	3.8%2015-2019	3.7%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Rent as share of income	29.5%2015-2019	25.8%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Within the margin of error	77%
Rent-burdened households	47.7%2015-2019	41.0%2020-2024	−6.6 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Unemployment rate	5.4%2015-2019	3.8%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	77%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.8%2015-2019	6.6%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	37%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Arbutus, Maryland five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Arbutus, Maryland in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Arbutus, Maryland itself moved +8.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

22,507 residents (±1,448)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

8,424 households (±477)

Arbutus, Maryland
Maryland share

Under $25k11%†930
$25k–50k12%1,050
$50k–75k14%1,140

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

8,424 households (±477)

Arbutus, Maryland
Maryland share

Own69%5,826
Rent31%2,598

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

12,716 workers (±1,074)

Arbutus, Maryland
Maryland share

Drive alone74%9,422
Carpool5.1%†647
Public transit3.7%†471

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Baltimore County, the county holding most of Arbutus's residents.

Baltimore County has 20,340 employer establishments, 240 for every 10,000 residents (0.97× the US rate of 248; 1.04× Maryland's), with 340,854 paid employees at an average annual pay of $65,263. The Census Bureau also counts 87,453 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 20,340; 87,453 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 240; US 248 · Maryland 230
Paid employees: 340,854
Average annual pay: $65,263; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Baltimore County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	2,109	24.9	1.20×About typical	28,896	$70,051	6,615
Restaurants and other eating places	1,449	17.1	0.93×About typical	26,491	$23,380	584
Specialty trade contractors	1,182	14	0.90×About typical	18,164	$71,851	3,705
Lessors of real estate	970	11.5	0.93×About typical	6,150	$76,401	8,058
Limited-service restaurants	822	9.7	1.21×About typical	13,157	$21,466	332
Construction of buildings	646	7.6	1.01×About typical	4,849	$90,137	1,983
Legal services	622	7.3	1.37×More than typical	3,203	$91,314	805
Offices of physicians	600	7.1	1.09×About typical	7,415	$92,159	860
Services to buildings and dwellings	580	6.9	1.02×About typical	5,890	$39,481	3,599
Offices of other health practitioners	566	6.7	1.10×About typical	6,569	$70,663	2,348
Building equipment contractors	483	5.7	0.95×About typical	9,389	$78,139	773
Management, scientific and technical consulting	473	5.6	0.83×About typical	4,364	$103,458	3,122

Rank places for an industry Open Baltimore County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 846,378 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $35.7M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Arbutus, Maryland: $1,588 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $35.7M; −19% vs FY2025
Per resident: $1,588; US $1,994
Sole-source: 74%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.4%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Defense Logistics Agency$13.6M38%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$12.9M36%
Department of the Navy$4.5M13%
Federal Aviation Administration$1.7M4.7%
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services$1.1M3.2%
Defense Information Systems Agency$866.8K2.4%
Federal Acquisition Service$281.3K0.8%
U.S. Customs and Border Protection$261.1K0.7%

Top recipients

BLIND INDUSTRIES AND SERVICES OF MARYLAND$24.7M69%
RCT SYSTEMS, INC$4.4M12%
TATE ANDALE, LLC$1.8M5.0%
CALDERON ENTERPRISES LLC$1.7M4.7%
INDEX ANALYTICS LLC$1.1M3.2%

Spending by fiscal year

13MFY2017
11.3MFY2018
8.5MFY2019
17.2MFY2020
52.2MFY2021
34.9MFY2022
63.2MFY2023
47.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Cut and sew apparel manufacturing · 3152$19.6M55%
Support activities for air transportation · 4881$4.6M13%
Electrical equipment manufacturing · 3353$4.2M12%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$1.9M5.3%
Specialized freight trucking · 4842$1.7M4.7%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$1.2M

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Arbutus, Maryland

RCT SYSTEMS, INC. FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OF NAVY ADVANCED SHIPBOARD ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS.$67.7M
RCT SYSTEMS, INC· Baltimore County, MD· Weapons, aircraft, ships & vehicles· Jul 30, 2021 – Apr 24, 2026· N0002421C4109
THE PURPOSE OF THIS REQUIREMENT IS TO ACQUIRE CONTRACTOR SERVICES TO CONTINUE THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (O&M) OF THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE&MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) OFFICES OF HEARINGS CASE AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (OH CDMS). THIS R$23.8M
INDEX ANALYTICS LLC· Baltimore County, MD· IT & telecom· Jun 30, 2020 – Jul 28, 2026· 75FCMC20F0054
GIGAMON NETWORK TAP$17.3M
VAE, INC.· Baltimore County, MD· Other equipment & supplies· May 10, 2023 – Jun 9, 2026· HC102823F0471

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Arbutus, Maryland, so they do not add up across cities.

Arbutus, Maryland's figures are part of those of Baltimore County, MD ($2.3B in FY2026), never added to them: 1.5% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Arbutus is mostly in Baltimore County.

See federal money in Baltimore County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Arbutus, Maryland is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

Angela D. Alsobrooks

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Baltimore County64100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD69

Other cities and towns in Baltimore County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2401975

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends