What Big Maryland Cities Are Most Forgotten?

As Maryland sports betting attention turns toward basketball and baseball, with the Baltimore Ravens eliminated from the NFL playoffs, we at BetMaryland.com wondered how often folks think of Maryland metropolises outside of Charm City.

In other words, which big Maryland cities tend to be forgotten the most? A quiz on Sporcle.com asks respondents to fill in the blanks in listing the 10 most populous cities in the state. We then ranked this list by how often the quiz takers remembered those cities in Maryland within the website’s time limit.

Two Cities Forgotten By Two-Thirds Of Respondents

According to census data at the official Maryland government website, Laurel is ranked No. 10 in the state in population, at just over 30,000 as of 2020. It was also last among cities that folks remembered when filling in the blanks on the Sporcle quiz.

Just 23.8% of those taking the quiz recalled Laurel, which is in Prince George’s County and is about halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The Laurel Park horse track is just outside city limits.

Second on our list of forgotten Maryland cities was Bowie, as 30% correctly filled in the blank with that one. Bowie is also in Prince George’s County, but south of Laurel, closer to D.C. than Baltimore. The Washington Capital’ Stanley Cup pursuit will be a hot topic for Maryland NHL betting, with the team off to a great start in the 2024-25 season.

The University of Maryland calls College Park home, but only 35.1% of respondents came up with the city’s name, ranking it as the third most-forgotten city.

Baltimore The Obvious Answer

At the other end of the spectrum, 98.6% of folks taking the Maryland cities test at the Sporcle quiz site got Baltimore correct. (An aside to the 1.4% who didn’t: If you can’t even remember Baltimore, why are you taking a quiz about Maryland’s biggest cities?) You can check out the Baltimore Orioles World Series odds while you’re brushing up on Maryland geography and demographics.

Anyway, the home of the Ravens, Orioles and five Division I basketball teams is the largest city in the Old Line State by a wide margin. It has lost population in the past few decades – the 2020 census reported 585,708 people there, down 20.4% from 736,014 in 1990 – but Baltimore still has more people than the next 15 Maryland population centers combined.

Wherever you are in the state, the best Maryland sportsbook promos are right here at BetMaryland.com any time.

Author

Jim Tomlin

Jim Tomlin has nearly 30 years of experience in journalism, having worked at such publications as the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturdays Down South and Saturday Tradition. He is a contributing writer and editor for BetMaryland.com.

Rank	City	% Guessed Correctly
1	Laurel	23.8%
2	Bowie	30.0%
3	College Park	35.1%
4	Salisbury	36.1%
5	Gaithersburg	37.3%
6	Rockville	45.2%
7	Hagerstown	46.2%
8	Frederick	52.9%
9	Annapolis	84.6%
10	Baltimore	98.6%

What Big Maryland Cities Are Most Forgotten?

Most Forgotten Maryland Cities Among Top 10 Most Populous

Two Cities Forgotten By Two-Thirds Of Respondents

Baltimore The Obvious Answer