These Are The 10 Worst Places In Maryland To Get A Job

Top 10 Challenging Cities for Job Seekers in Maryland (2026)

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At Zippia, we are dedicated to exploring the best and worst job markets across the United States.

In this article, we turn our focus to the cities in Maryland that present the most significant challenges for job seekers in 2026. After previously highlighting the best locations, we now examine those that are struggling.

These cities have not yet demonstrated the resilience required to ascend in the job market and secure coveted positions.

Based on our analysis of the 100 largest cities in Maryland, here are the ten most challenging cities for job seekers in the Old Line State:

Continue reading for a deeper dive into our methodology.

For further insights on Maryland jobs, explore:

Methodology for Identifying Challenging Job Markets in Maryland

For our analysis, we focused on cities in Maryland with populations exceeding 5,000. This resulted in a selection of the 100 largest cities.

We evaluated each location based on various metrics, ranking them from one to 100, where one indicated the most challenging conditions in each category.

Ultimately, we calculated the average rank across all metrics, with the city achieving the lowest overall score designated as the “Most Challenging City for Job Seekers in Maryland.”

The factors we analyzed included:

1. Salisbury

Population: 30,407
Recent Job Growth: -1.44%
Future Job Growth: 28.90%

2. Hagerstown

Population: 40,078
Recent Job Growth: -1.67%
Future Job Growth: 29.30%

3. Cumberland

Population: 20,776
Recent Job Growth: -0.03%
Future Job Growth: 33.60%

4. Baltimore

Population: 620,644
Recent Job Growth: 0.71%
Future Job Growth: 33.60%

5. College Park

Population: 30,478
Recent Job Growth: 0.19%
Future Job Growth: 34.60%

6. Chillum

Population: 36,023
Recent Job Growth: 0.19%
Future Job Growth: 34.80%

7. Suitland

Population: 25,060
Recent Job Growth: 0.19%
Future Job Growth: 34.80%

8. Landover

Population: 22,956
Recent Job Growth: 0.19%
Future Job Growth: 34.80%

9. Langley Park

Population: 20,675
Recent Job Growth: 0.19%
Future Job Growth: 34.80%

10. Frederick

Population: 65,171
Recent Job Growth: -0.47%
Future Job Growth: 34.20%

Conclusion: The Path Forward for Job Seekers

Based on our comprehensive analysis, Salisbury emerges as the most challenging city for job seekers in Maryland.

Even as the overall economy continues to recover and job opportunities expand across the state, these cities are still facing significant challenges. We hope that they will make strides to improve their job markets in the near future.

Detailed Ranking of Challenging Job Markets in Maryland

City	Rank	Population	Recent Job Growth	Future Job Growth
salisbury	1	30,407	-1.44%	28.90%
hagerstown	2	40,078	-1.67%	29.30%
cumberland	3	20,776	-0.03%	33.60%
baltimore	4	620,644	0.71%	33.60%
college park	5	30,478	0.19%	34.60%
chillum	6	36,023	0.19%	34.80%
suitland	7	25,060	0.19%	34.80%
landover	8	22,956	0.19%	34.80%
langley park	9	20,675	0.19%	34.80%
frederick	10	65,171	-0.47%	34.20%

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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