Baltimore City has the unique distinction of being its own independent city, not married to a surrounding county. It’s more like a city-state from Ancient Greece than a modern American municipality with the cushion of a suburban tax base. And that is where the trouble begins.
Although not precisely aligned with the political status of independent Greek poleis, the metaphor holds: when you are on your own, you fight your battles without reinforcements. Baltimore still flies the Maryland flag and sends representatives to the General Assembly in Annapolis. Still, ever since its 1851 break from Baltimore County, it has stood apart, a city-state without the combined arms of a surrounding county’s wealth. Picture Sparta without the soldiers, but with potholes.
That distinction has grown heavier over time. Baltimore bears the fiscal scars of mid-century decline, including redlining, White flight, suburban income flight, and the collapse of its blue-collar economic muscle, once defined by shipping and steelmaking. Its taxable assessable base today is just $53.8 billion, far behind the $114.5 billion of Baltimore County that rings it, and a fraction of the $246.3 billion leviathan of Montgomery County. Even Prince George’s, long seen as the state’s underdog, commands a $140.3 billion base. In comparison, Howard County posts $71.6 billion, and Frederick, once a farmland frontier, now nearly matches Baltimore City at $49.6 billion.1
The result?
Baltimore walks into Annapolis with a thinner wallet than its suburban rivals. In the legislative tug-of-war, the city is often a supplicant, forced to lobby for state aid while surrounding counties flex their raw fiscal weight. Montgomery, especially, can bankroll dreams with ease, its vast base translating into political leverage that Baltimore struggles to match. Montgomery doesn’t just show up at the buffet with a plate; it brings the entire catering staff.
Baltimore is not alone in this city-state curse. Across the Mississippi, St. Louis executed its own separation in 1876, remembered as “The Great Divorce.” The city walled itself off from St. Louis County, forfeiting the ability to annex land as suburbs expanded. In the 20th century, White flight and metropolitan sprawl siphoned wealth into the county, while the city stagnated inside fixed borders. Missouri, unlike Maryland, is not a wealthy state; so St. Louis faces not only suburban estrangement but also the indifference of a poorer, more rural legislature. (It’s like bailing water from a sinking ship while the captain shrugs and lights a cigar.)
Then there is Detroit. Detroit is not legally independent (it sits inside Wayne County), but it might as well be politically. Suburban wealth in Oakland and Macomb counties insulated itself, while Lansing’s legislature tilted toward rural and exurban interests. When Detroit collapsed into bankruptcy in 2013, it was the clearest signal of what happens when a major city is politically cut off, even if not legally divorced.
Together, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit illustrate three variations on the American urban bind:
Baltimore is legally independent, fiscally weaker than its neighbors, yet still situated within one of the nation’s wealthiest states.
St. Louis is legally independent, locked in, and stranded in a poorer state with no annexation lifeline.
Detroit is not legally independent, but politically exiled from the wealth around it.
These stories are not just governance oddities. They shape crime narratives, urban despair, and suburban smugness. They determine who funds schools, who pays for roads, and who shoulders the burden of concentrated poverty. And they reveal a more profound American truth: that our urban crisis is not inevitable, but structured. It’s the outcome of political divorces, racialized wealth flight, and statehouses that prefer to punish cities rather than integrate them.
When politicians float militarized solutions to “fix” Baltimore, or St. Louis, or Detroit, they rehearse an old Reconstruction-era fear: that minority-led governance is inherently unstable, requiring occupation rather than partnership. But history teaches the opposite. Sending troops to the city-states only fuels resentment and revives old feuds.
If America is to live up to its democratic promise, it must reckon with these city-states, not as problems to be contained, but as partners to be empowered. Ancient Greece reminds us that city-states flourished when they federated, sharing wealth and security. Without that humility, without that vulnerability, we risk replaying the rivalries of old, but with less glory, fewer philosophers, and a lot more zoning disputes.
Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, The Estimated Taxable Assessable Base at the County Level – Beginning July 1, 2024 (Final), Base Estimate Date November 30 2024, data expressed in thousands, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Howard County, Frederick County, Maryland, accessed via November 2024 Assessable Base Report PDF (dat.maryland.gov).
Great article, I've learned so much. On my mother's side I have ancestral roots in Baltimore, been there a few times when I was a child, to visit an aunt and great grandmother who grew up in a shack in Potter field,now the parking lot of John Hopkins.