Baltimore Area Survey shows household affordability strains persist, with disparities by income, race and location

A regional snapshot of affordability pressures

A new wave of survey findings from Baltimore City and Baltimore County underscores how affordability challenges extend beyond housing to basic needs such as food and reliable transportation. The Baltimore Area Survey, an annual, address-based representative survey designed to track residents’ experiences over time, has repeatedly identified sharp differences in hardship by income and race, alongside indications that day-to-day stability is closely tied to mobility and access to services.

The survey’s 2024 edition collected responses from 1,492 residents and reported an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. Its 2025 edition, fielded in late summer and early fall, continued tracking core measures such as food and transportation insecurity and broadened attention to economic anxiety and job-market concerns.

Food insecurity and transportation insecurity remain closely linked to income

Across the survey years, the most consistent pattern is concentration of hardship among lower-income households. In the 2025 results, households earning under $30,000 annually were reported to experience the highest levels of both food and transportation insecurity, highlighting the compounding effect of limited resources when costs rise or services are unreliable.

Transportation challenges were measured through reported disruptions that affected daily life, such as missed opportunities or the need to reschedule appointments. The 2024 survey found that more than two-thirds of residents earning under $30,000 experienced at least one transportation issue, and it also documented lower levels of home high-speed internet in this income group—an indicator of digital disconnection that can hinder access to jobs, healthcare, and public services.

Disparities by race and geography

The survey findings also show disparities that cut across race and place. In the 2025 results, Black residents were reported to experience a sharp increase in food insecurity compared with the prior year’s survey, and transportation disruptions were more commonly reported among Black residents than White residents in the 2024 findings shared publicly in early 2025.

Geography emerged as another dividing line. In the 2024 survey, residents living along the planned Red Line corridor were more likely to report transportation-related issues than residents outside that corridor, indicating that mobility constraints remain unevenly distributed across the region.

How affordability concerns intersect with broader confidence in the economy

Affordability pressures were reported alongside elevated concerns about economic conditions. In the 2025 survey summary, more than 55% of respondents said local economic conditions were getting worse, while nearly 70% said the national economy was getting worse. Among employed residents, more than one-third worried about losing their jobs, and nearly half worried about finding a job as good as their current one.

Key data points highlighted in recent survey summaries

• In 2024, residents earning under $30,000 were reported to face high rates of transportation disruptions and lower home high-speed internet access.
• In 2025, the lowest-income households were reported to experience the highest levels of food and transportation insecurity.
• In 2024, residents along the planned Red Line corridor were more likely to report at least one transportation issue than those outside the corridor.
• In 2025, majorities of respondents expressed worsening perceptions of local and national economic conditions.

Across multiple years of data, the Baltimore Area Survey has positioned affordability not as a single-issue problem, but as a set of interconnected constraints—where food access, transportation reliability, internet availability, and job security can reinforce one another.

The survey’s year-over-year structure is intended to help communities and policymakers distinguish short-term shifts from sustained patterns. With additional waves, the data can further clarify whether changes in hardship levels represent temporary fluctuations or longer-term trends in the region’s cost-of-living pressures.