Census-designated place · Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Pasadena, Maryland

Pasadena is a census-designated place in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, part of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area. It has 34,309 residents. Pasadena, Maryland has a quality-of-life score of 84 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,501 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Maryland it ranks #100 of 334 cities and towns. It ranks best on natural hazard risk (low), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and broadband subscriptions (high). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), average commute time (high) and public libraries (low).

84Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,501 of 15,651 cities and towns
Maryland: #100 of 334 in MD
Population: 34,309 (2020-2024)
Land area: 15 mi²
Density: 2,298.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 2460475

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.

Safety48#8,131/15,637
Economy97#515/15,631
Housing43#8,558/14,977
Health77#3,596/15,609
Healthcare80#3,131/15,650
Environment70#4,572/15,453
Education81#2,958/15,649
Infrastructure85#2,364/15,650
Community62#5,895/15,651
Leisure & amenities58#6,620/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Pasadena, Maryland ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Anne Arundel 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 · low1.5
98/100Maryland 4.72025Federal Emergency Management AgencyAnne Arundel County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.361
93/100Maryland 0.456United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Broadband subscriptions · high96.7%
92/100Maryland 92.4%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Distance to an airport · low10 mi
91/100Maryland 21 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauAnne Arundel County value
Median household income · high$129,727
91/100Maryland $102,835United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Child poverty rate · low6.1%
91/100Maryland 11.2%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Weaknesses

Time spent in the emergency room · high245 min
4/100Maryland 246 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesAnne Arundel County value
Average commute time · high31.6 min
6/100Maryland 31.0 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Public libraries · low0.3 /10k
20/100Maryland 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesAnne Arundel County value
Property crime rate · high1,667 /100k
22/100Maryland 1,820 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationAnne Arundel County value
Violent crime rate · high349 /100k
23/100Maryland 358 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationAnne Arundel County value
High ozone days · high2 days
28/100Maryland 2 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyAnne Arundel County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
29,918 (2015-2019) → 34,309 (2020-2024)
+15%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
42.7% (2015-2019) → 51.7% (2020-2024)
+9 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$96,575 (2015-2019) → $129,727 (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.7% (2015-2019) → 38.2% (2020-2024)
+6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Child poverty rateImproving
9.4% (2015-2019) → 6.1% (2020-2024)
−3.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateImproving
4.3% (2015-2019) → 1.6% (2020-2024)
−2.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Pasadena, Maryland improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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

Unemployment−2.7 points4.3% → 1.6%
Bachelor's++6.5 points31.7% → 38.2%
Household income+34%$96,575 → $129,727

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Pasadena, Maryland between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	31.8 min2015-2019	31.6 min2020-2024	−0.1 min	Within the margin of error	49%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%2015-2019	38.2%2020-2024	+6.5 points	Improved	77%
Broadband subscriptions	94.1%2015-2019	96.7%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Child poverty rate	9.4%2015-2019	6.1%2020-2024	−3.4 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Effective property tax rate	0.95%2015-2019	0.85%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	36%
High school diploma or higher	93.0%2015-2019	92.9%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	3.3×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	+0.0×	Within the margin of error	78%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3502015-2019	0.3612020-2024	+0.012	Within the margin of error	41%
Median household income	$96,5752015-2019	$129,7272020-2024	+34%	Improved	64%
Poverty rate	6.0%2015-2019	5.7%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Rent as share of income	28.4%2015-2019	30.9%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Rent-burdened households	42.7%2015-2019	51.7%2020-2024	+9 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Unemployment rate	4.3%2015-2019	1.6%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Improved	87%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	3.6%2015-2019	2.8%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“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 Pasadena, Maryland five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Pasadena, 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, Pasadena, Maryland itself moved −3.9 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

34,309 residents (±2,245)

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

12,744 households (±780)

Pasadena, Maryland
Maryland share

Under $25k5.7%†730
$25k–50k8.3%†1,055
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

12,744 households (±780)

Pasadena, Maryland
Maryland share

Own84%10,663
Rent16%2,081

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

20,343 workers (±1,532)

Pasadena, Maryland
Maryland share

Drive alone74%15,080
Carpool4.5%†923
Public transit0.3%†54

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 Anne Arundel County, the county holding most of Pasadena's residents.

Anne Arundel County has 14,718 employer establishments, 246 for every 10,000 residents (0.99× the US rate of 248; 1.07× Maryland's), with 245,664 paid employees at an average annual pay of $67,994. The Census Bureau also counts 54,600 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 14,718; 54,600 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 246; US 248 · Maryland 230
Paid employees: 245,664
Average annual pay: $67,994; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	1,148	19.2	0.92×About typical	15,195	$76,568	2,870
Specialty trade contractors	1,092	18.2	1.18×About typical	15,510	$78,297	2,932
Restaurants and other eating places	1,091	18.2	0.99×About typical	25,844	$25,185	268
Lessors of real estate	620	10.3	0.84×About typical	3,197	$66,713	5,151
Computer systems design and related services	588	9.8	2.27×More than typical	11,982	$141,320	774
Limited-service restaurants	571	9.5	1.19×About typical	10,737	$21,957	150
Construction of buildings	538	9	1.19×About typical	3,352	$83,501	1,396
Management, scientific and technical consulting	538	9	1.34×More than typical	5,980	$108,940	2,889
Services to buildings and dwellings	466	7.8	1.15×About typical	6,730	$35,323	2,291
Building equipment contractors	437	7.3	1.21×About typical	7,192	$86,253	661
Full-service restaurants	401	6.7	0.87×About typical	13,305	$28,165	87
Offices of other health practitioners	356	5.9	0.98×About typical	2,691	$55,227	1,322

Rank places for an industry Open Anne Arundel County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 599,327 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 $45.1M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Pasadena, Maryland: $1,315 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $45.1M; +31% vs FY2025
Per resident: $1,315; US $1,994
Sole-source: 41%; US 30%
Single offer: 26%; 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

U.S. Coast Guard$39.9M88%
Department of the Army$4.4M9.9%
Social Security Administration$232.5K0.5%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$140K0.3%
Department of the Navy$110.2K0.2%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration$90.3K0.2%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$90K0.2%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration$20.9K0.0%

Top recipients

BALTIMORE GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY$14.4M32%
AECOM - HDR JOINT VENTURE DESIGN TEAM JV$4.2M9.3%
CHEROKEE NATION STRATEGIC PROGRAMS, L.L.C.$3.3M7.3%
WHITING-TURNER CONTRACTING COMPANY, THE$1.6M3.4%
ABEYON LLC$1.4M3.1%

Spending by fiscal year

1.5MFY2017
1.2MFY2018
1.8MFY2019
3.2MFY2020
4.9MFY2021
28.6MFY2022
22.3MFY2023
20.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Electric power generation, transmission and distribution · 2211$14.5M32%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$8.9M20%
Ship and boat building · 3366$5.9M13%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$2M4.5%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$1.6M3.5%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362

Part of this section could not be loaded in time.

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 Pasadena, Maryland, so they do not add up across cities.

Pasadena, Maryland's figures are part of those of Anne Arundel County, MD ($3.5B in FY2026), never added to them: 1.3% of that total.

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

See federal money in Anne Arundel 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.

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

House

Senate

County

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

Anne Arundel County87100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD69

Other cities and towns in Anne Arundel 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/2460475

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends