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Population

Baltimore reached a peak population of 949,708 at the 1950 U.S. census count. In every ten-year census count since then, the city has lost population, with its 2020 census population at 585,708. In 2011, then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said one of her goals was to increase the city's population, by improving city services to reduce the number of people leaving the city, and by passing legislation protecting immigrants' rights to stimulate growth. Baltimore is identified as a sanctuary city. In 2019, then-Mayor Jack Young said that Baltimore will not assist ICE agents with immigration raids.

Baltimore City's population declined from 620,961 in 2010 to 585,708 in 2020, representing a 5.7% drop. In 2020, Baltimore lost more population than any other major city in the United States.

Gentrification has increased since the 2000 census, primarily in East Baltimore, downtown, and Central Baltimore, with 14.8% of census tracts having had income growth and home values appreciation at a rate higher than the city overall. Many, but not all, gentrifying neighborhoods are predominantly white areas which have seen a turnover from lower income to higher income households. These areas represent either expansion of existing gentrified areas, or activity around the Inner Harbor, downtown, or the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. In some neighborhoods in East Baltimore, the Hispanic population has increased, while both the non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black populations have declined.

After New York City, Baltimore was the second city in the United States to reach a population of 100,000. From the 1820 to 1850 U.S. censuses, Baltimore was the second most-populous city, before being surpassed by Philadelphia and the then-independent Brooklyn in 1860, and then being surpassed by St. Louis and Chicago in 1870. Baltimore was among the top 10 cities in population in the United States in every census up to the 1980 census. After World War II, Baltimore had a population approaching 1 million, until the population began to fall after the 1950 census.