top 12 jobs and growing industries in baltimore, maryland.

Baltimore’s economy is diverse and growing. As a former stalwart of manufacturing and shipping, it’s still home to associated industries and hubs, including the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest roll-on/roll-off ports in the U.S.

But Maryland’s largest city is perhaps best known today for its vibrant higher education community, with 15 four-year colleges including esteemed Johns Hopkins University, as well as the fields that profit from a strong academic connection, such as healthcare, tech and cybersecurity. With its proximity to Washington, D.C. — Baltimore is just 39 miles northeast of the capital — the city also benefits from federal funding for government and defense contracting and research labs.

If you’re looking for a job in Baltimore right now, we’re here to help — we’ve compiled a list of the top 12 jobs and hottest industries where companies are hiring. And because Randstad research has found the city enjoys annual salaries 31.4 percent above the national average, the figures we’ve listed below are from the high end of our data. Read on to find your next great job in Charm City.

Also part of the computer and mathematical field, QA engineers play a pivotal role in software development, testing programs and apps and identifying glitches throughout the project's lifespan. In Baltimore, these professionals will find plenty of demand for their work, as the city is home to a thriving startup scene anchored by the ETC (Emerging Technology Centers), a tech company business incubator founded in the late 1990s. There are also a number of healthcare-related tech companies, like PointClickCare and Scene Health. The salary for a QA engineer is $146k to $166k.

Baltimore’s location along the Mid-Atlantic region combined with the strength of the Port of Baltimore and nearby rail assets make it an ideal hub in the logistics industry. In 2018, it was also ranked as the fourth city nationwide for density of warehousing and storage workers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As a picker/packer, also known as a warehouse associate, you would join this booming industry and earn an average of $17 to $20 per hour in Baltimore.

A career as a procurement specialist offers opportunities in several of Baltimore’s top industries, including tech, pharmacology and manufacturing. As a procurement specialist, you would handle every step of acquiring goods, properties and even services from other businesses, and could expect a salary of $48k to $53k.

Six of the 10 major private employers in Baltimore are in the healthcare industry, according to 2021-2022 data from the Maryland Department of Commerce. That includes major healthcare systems like top-ranked Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, LifeBridge Health and MedStar Health, who employ more than 40,000 people in the Greater Baltimore region. As a surgical tech, you could be a part of this important field and earn a salary of $55k to $64k.

Greater Baltimore has a busy life sciences sector, between federal laboratories and R&D funding (Maryland receives more federal R&D dollars per worker than any other state), top life sciences universities and large life sciences companies like Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD). Clinical research associates can expect diverse job offerings in the city, and an annual salary of $103k to $136k.

More than 13,000 residents are employed in the legal field in Baltimore, and BLS data shows the city has more than three times the concentration of legal support workers compared to the national average. As a law clerk in Baltimore, expect an average salary of $73k.