Charm City’s resilience is being fortified in concrete, steel and cranes. The Fort McHenry channel was fully reopened just 11 weeks after the Key Bridge collapse, restoring port traffic months ahead of schedule and reinforcing Baltimore’s reputation for hustle. In South Baltimore, the 235-acre Peninsula continues to transform: Under Armour’s net-zero, masstimber headquarters and 24,000-square-foot Brand House opened in late 2024, anchoring a waterfront mix of labs, residences and public space. Downtown, site work is underway on the $1-billion Harborplace redevelopment, with Gensler-designed towers set to deliver housing, retail and hospitality in phases through 2031. On the trade front, Tradepoint Atlantic’s TiL container terminal is ramping up, boosting port capacity by 70% and supporting an estimated 8,000 jobs. Meanwhile, biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins have grown a whole-brain organoid that can usher in an era of studying the real causes of disorders like autism. Small wonder Baltimore leads the world in our Health ranking, while also ranking #1 in our global Educational Attainment subcategory as the most educated city on earth, fueled by its #8-ranked universities.
And all this comes at a relative bargain. As of early 2025, the median list price was about $242,000, roughly 30% under the U.S. median.