Baltimore City Youth Data Scorecard

The Baltimore City Youth Data Scorecard, a resource that is updated and maintained by Baltimore’s Promise, is designed to make data related to the health and well-being of children and young people living in Baltimore City accessible to all.

The interactive Data Scorecard provides community stakeholders the opportunity to track the best available data on how Baltimore’s children and youth are collectively faring, from birth through post-secondary education, and into the early stages of their careers. It also compiles data that currently exists in different sources by bringing it together in an easy-to-view format.  

Presenting key youth well-being data in one single site supports community efforts to hold decision-makers accountable, improve services, and generate better outcomes for Baltimore children and families.

Baltimore’s Promise has five ambitious goals for the city’s youth as they progress from childhood to adulthood:

  • Babies are born healthy

  • Children enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school

  • Children and youth achieve at grade level in school

  • Youth graduate high school prepared for the next step without remediation

  • Youth earn quality post-secondary credentials or receive training and are career ready

Each of the five Data Scorecard sections tracks the above community-level outcomes along the Cradle-to-Career Continuum. In total, across these five sections, there are over 20 indicators we are tracking through our Data Scorecard.

For additional context and narrative around data indicators, please expand the text options below the dashboard. You can also download a PDF version of the scorecard here.

Scorecard Dashboard

 

Scorecard Key Findings by Indicator Group

    • After a sharp increase in 2020, Infant Mortality in Baltimore City in 2021 and 2022 is at the lowest rate seen in over a decade.

    • Black (Non-Hispanic) infants are over twice as likely to be born with a Low Birth Weight than White (Non-Hispanic) infants. The Low Birth Weight rate in Baltimore City in 2022 is the highest seen in over a decade.

    • Fewer mothers are receiving Early Prenatal Care, and more mothers are receiving Late or No Prenatal Care in 2022 compared to earlier years.

    • The Teen Birth Rate in Baltimore City has steadily declined in the past decade, with 2022 seeing the lowest teen birth rate on record. 

    • The Maternal Mortality Rate in Maryland has decreased in the past decade, and the gap in Maternal Mortality Rate between Black (Non-Hispanic) mothers and White (Non-Hispanic) mothers has decreased.

    Click here to learn more about indicators for Babies Born Healthy.

    • Kindergarten Readiness (KRA) results in Baltimore City saw large increases from 2022 to 2024. The gap between Baltimore City and Maryland scores is 5 percentage points, the lowest gap since 2018.

    • In 2024, White students were 72% more likely to score “Demonstrating Readiness” on the KRA compared to Black/African American students. In the same year, White students were almost three times more likely to score “Demonstrating Readiness” on the KRA compared to Hispanic/Latino students.

    Click here to learn more about the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.

    • On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 4th grade math proficiency in Baltimore City decreased by over 50% in 2022 compared to 2019, while 8th grade math proficiency decreased by 20%. Both figures are the lowest proficiency rates in the past decade, mirroring trends seen across the state. 

    • NAEP Reading scores in Grade 8 have remained steady in Baltimore City, while the state of Maryland experienced declines.

    • MCAP Math Grade 3 standardized scores increased again in 2024 after a low point in 2022, nearly returning to pre-pandemic levels. The gap between White students and Black or African American students remains high, with White students almost four times more likely to score proficient. 

    • Fewer than 5% of Baltimore City students scored proficient on the MCAP Math Grade 8 exam in 2024, compared to 7.0% of students across the entire state. 

    • MCAP English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency rates in Baltimore City remained steady in 2024 after large increases between 2022 and 2023.

    Click here to learn more about indicators for Grade Level Achievement.

    • The proficiency rate in the MCAP Algebra 1 exam increased in Baltimore City, from 6.4% in 2023 to 8.8% in 2024.

    • A greater percentage of Baltimore City students scored Proficient on the MCAP Grade 10 ELA exam in 2024 compared to 2023 (34.5% and 31.2%, respectively); proficiency rates are over double what they were before the pandemic (16.0% in 2019).

    • The Four-Year Graduation Rate increased while the Five-Year Graduation Rate slightly decreased in Baltimore City in 2024. 

    • In 2020, 58.3% of Baltimore City high school graduates needed remediation in college, compared to 32.7% of high school graduates across the state.

    Click here to learn more about indicators for High School Graduation.

    • College Enrollment rates in Baltimore City have steadily declined since the pandemic. While 54.6% of high school graduates enrolled in college 16 months post high school in 2019, only 44.9% did so in 2022.

    • In Baltimore City, Black or African American young people aged 16-24 are nearly 3 times more likely to be not in school nor working (Opportunity Youth) compared to their White peers according to 2023 census data (Black or African American rate: 21.7%; White rate: 7.7%).

    • The youth (16-24) Unemployment Rate decreased significantly between the 2014-2018 time period and the 2019-2023 time period in Baltimore City, moving from 19.8% to 14.6%.

    • The Median Earnings by Education in Baltimore City shows that education levels are highly correlated with higher earnings. The median earnings for those without a high school degree in 2023 was $29,967, compared to $35,816 for those with a high school degree.

    Click here to learn more about indicators for College and Career Readiness.

 

A note on labels for youth subgroups related to race, ethnicity, and gender:

Because different data sources may use unique labels for different racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups, the Baltimore City Youth Data Scorecard does not have consistent labels for subgroups across the 20+ indicators. For example, the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Report, which informs our Kindergarten Readiness indicator, labels subgroups as “Black/African American,” “Hispanic/Latino,” and “White.” Data from the American Community Survey from the US Census, which informs several of our indicators, labels similar subgroups as “Black or African American,” “Hispanic,” and “White.” In order to not misrepresent or mistranslate data from indicator sources, we always keep the same labels used by each individual data source. For more details about our data sources, see the data source linked in each graph, the additional details provided in links above, or email James Sadler at james@baltimorespromise.org.