2020-2055 Cooperative Forecasts

The mission of the Cooperative Forecasting Group (CFG) is to develop a set of population, household, and employment control totals and small area forecasts to be used for transportation planning. The data set is utilized at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) as an input to the travel demand model and for air quality conformity testing, and is available to federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as the general public. The local planning agencies that comprise the CFG are responsible for the development of the estimates and forecasts for their own jurisdictions. While methodologies vary between jurisdictions, the forecasts are generally based on local comprehensive plans, adopted zoning maps and regulations, and an inventory of residential holding capacity. The allocation of employment to the small area and its distribution across industry sectors is based largely upon an inventory of employers across the region. New forecast rounds are developed on an as needed basis, but are generally triggered by the update of major planning documents by the local jurisdictions, significant unforeseen demographic shifts, and the availability of small area data. The members of the CFG have the opportunity to make annual updates to the cooperative forecasts to account for unexpected changes when a complete new “round” of forecasts is not warranted. For more information, see the Cooperative Forecasting Group page of the BMC website. The geographic unit of this layer is traffic analysis zones (TAZs), which are basic spatial units of analysis facilitating the ability of transportation planners to forecast changes in commuting patterns, trip volumes, and modes of travel, and to develop plans to meet the changing demands for transportation facilities and capacities. Each TAZ represents an area containing similar kinds of land use and commuter travel. Date: July 28, 2026 Update: Varies, see above. New forecasts will be added as separate Open Data items. Attribute Fields and Descriptions: STATEFP20 - State (FIPS) COUNTYFP20 - County (FIPS) NAME - TAZ Name TAZ20 - TAZ Number JUR - Jurisdiction Number (BMC internal) JURNAME - Jurisdiction Name RPD20 - RPD Number RPDNAME - RPD Name ACRES - Land area in acres Round - CFG round number Pop20 - 2020 Population Pop25 - 2025 Population Pop30 - 2030 Population Pop35 - 2035 Population Pop40 - 2040 Population Pop45 - 2045 Population Pop50 - 2050 Population Pop55 - 2055 Population HHs20 - 2020 Number of households HHs25 - 2025 Number of households HHs30 - 2030 Number of households HHs35 - 2035 Number of households HHs40 - 2040 Number of households HHs45 - 2045 Number of households HHs50 - 2050 Number of households HHs55 - 2055 Number of households Emp20 - 2020 Number of jobs Emp25 - 2025 Number of jobs Emp30 - 2030 Number of jobs Emp35 - 2035 Number of jobs Emp40 - 2040 Number of jobs Emp45 - 2045 Number of jobs Emp50 - 2050 Number of jobs Emp55 - 2055 Number of jobs