As of 2005, Baltimore City’s population was 641,943 and the Baltimore-Towson metropolitan area (MSA) had approximately 2.6 million residents. Baltimore is also part of the even bigger Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area of approximately 8.1 million residents.

In recent years, efforts to redevelop the downtown area have led to a revitalization of the Inner Harbor. Up until the late 1970s, the harbor had been merely abandoned warehouses full of rats and rotting piers. The Baltimore Convention Center was opened in 1979 and was renovated and expanded in 1996. Harborplace, a modern urban retail and restaurant complex, was opened on the waterfront in 1980, followed by the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland's largest tourist destination, and another cultural venue, the Baltimore Museum of Industry in 1981.

Beginning in the early part of the 21st century, Baltimore has undergone a major building spree in the downtown area, specifically in the Inner Harbor East district. The skyline has extended and will continue to do so well into the next decade. ARC Wheeler, a Philadelphia-based developer has been approved to build a new hotel/condominium complex that will be the city's new tallest building, dubbed "10 Inner Harbor," approved at 60 stories and over 700ft tall. Other proposals for downtown skyscrapers are twin 65-story towers at sites on E. Saratoga Street and Guilford Avenue, an 800ft tower and complex located on the banks of the Patapsco River's middle branch area, and a 40-story condo and hotel tower on E. Pratt Street