Baltimore is largest city in the state of Maryland in the United States. The city is a major U.S. seaport, situated closer to major Midwestern markets than any other major seaport on the East Coast. As of 2006, the population of Baltimore City was 640,961. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area, which includes the city’s surrounding suburbs, has approximately 2.6 million residents. Baltimore is the largest city in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area of approximately 8.1 million residents. Baltimore’s metropolitan area is the 20th largest in the country.

The city is named after the founding proprietor of the Maryland Colony, Lord Baltimore in the Irish House of Lords. Baltimore himself took his title from a place named Baltimore in Ireland, which is an Anglicized form of the Irish language Baile an Tí Mhoir, meaning “Town of the Big House”.