April 29, 2025
With high-tech, knowledge-intensive industries leading the nation’s economic progress, entrepreneurship is considered as the major driver for regional economic development. Entrepreneurship may also lead to or exacerbate economic inequality. As regional economic development organizations in the Baltimore area consider entrepreneurial investment, particularly to economic development goals, the importance of equitable and inclusive local entrepreneurship is central to the mission of many local economic development support and advocacy organizations. Knowing how many residents in the Baltimore area identify as entrepreneurs and who has a desire to participate in the Baltimore area entrepreneurial economy would help bankers, policy makers, and other community groups connect residents to opportunity.
In this report, we provide a basis for understanding who is and would like to be involved in the entrepreneurial economy in the Baltimore area and how residents perceive local entrepreneurial opportunity by analyzing a series of questions about entrepreneurship from the 2023 Baltimore Area Survey. The questions asked about entrepreneurial self-identification, entrepreneurial opportunity, and the best path to financial success (between entrepreneurship and employment). We examine responses to these questions across race, class, and age of respondents.
The responses to the survey yielded a striking pattern across demographic categories that suggests that entrepreneurship in Baltimore may reflect what is called necessity entrepreneurship rather than opportunity entrepreneurship. While opportunity entrepreneurs are “pulled” into entrepreneurship by the attraction of lucrative market opportunities, necessity entrepreneurs are typically “pushed” into entrepreneurship because desirable livelihood alternatives do not exist for them in the local area.
Key findings include:
Entrepreneurial Self-Identification
- Age: People ages 25-34 are more likely to identify as entrepreneurs than those 35 and older.
- Education: 30.4% of residents with with less than an associate’s degree identified as entrepreneurs compared to 21.5% of residents with more than an associate’s degree
- Income: 31.4% of residents with less than $70,000 annual income identified as entrepreneurs compared to 19.7% of residents with more than $70,000 annual income
- Race: 35.4% of Black residents identified as entrepreneurs compared to 20.1% of White residents
Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Opportunity
- About 8% of respondents report seeing no entrepreneurial opportunity at all, about 38% report seeing “a little”, about 43% report seeing a “moderate amount”, and about 12% report seeing a “great deal”
- More-educated, higher-income, and White respondents perceive more entrepreneurial opportunities in the Baltimore area
- Less-educated, lower-income, and Black residents perceive significantly less entrepreneurial opportunity in Baltimore
Best Path to Financial Success
- More-educated, higher-income, and White respondents think that working for an established business is a better path to financial success
- Less-educated, lower-income, and Black residents think that entrepreneurship is a better path to financial success