Maryland officials say a stack of tax breaks and financing deals helped prop up roughly 24,000 jobs in fiscal year 2025, and they are wasting no time putting those numbers in the shop window.
According to state figures, more than 830 awards ran through programs such as Advantage Maryland, the Job Creation Tax Credit, and a heavily used research-and-development credit, touching projects that range from factory expansions to tech startups. Manufacturing accounted for the largest slice of the reported jobs, and state leaders are pointing to the tally as proof that the incentives are drawing private investment. Gov. Wes Moore and top Commerce officials highlighted the numbers this week as part of the administration’s broader economic pitch.
State report breaks down the totals
The state’s findings are laid out in the 2025 Consolidated Incentives Performance Report, produced by the Maryland Department of Commerce. The report concludes that programs tracked under the Maryland Jobs Development Act supported roughly 24,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in FY2025 and delivered 831 awards totaling about $120.7 million.
Commerce officials say they relied on the agency’s Finance Tracker along with IMPLAN economic modeling to estimate the employment impacts tied to those awards. The report’s appendix gets into the weeds, with program-level tables and recipient details that allow for company-by-company scrutiny.
Which industries saw the biggest gains
Manufacturing came out as, in the report’s words, the industry with the most reported or certified new and retained jobs, with 8,466 jobs, or roughly 65% of the total the state logged for FY2025. Retail trade followed with about 944 jobs, and professional, scientific, and technical services registered about 894 jobs.
The same document shows that the research and development tax credit generated the largest number of awards of any program in the report, underscoring how popular that tool has become for companies chasing innovation-focused incentives, according to the Maryland Department of Commerce.
Officials praise the tally as part of the pitch for incentives
Gov. Wes Moore called the programs “delivering real results,” while Commerce Secretary Harry Coker described the work as focused on securing the “best possible return-on-investment,” according to coverage of the rollout. Those comments appeared in a report that summarized the Commerce findings and noted that more than 830 Maryland businesses participated in the tracked programs, The Daily Record reported.
Why it matters now
The timing is not accidental. The report lands as state leaders confront tighter budgets and the aftershocks of federal job losses that have rippled through Maryland’s economy, a combination lawmakers say has raised the stakes for private-sector growth. Coverage earlier this winter noted that the state shed tens of thousands of federal positions in the prior year, a pressure point feeding directly into the Moore administration’s emphasis on private investment and workforce pipelines, as The Washington Post has outlined.
What to watch next
Inside the State House, the report’s spreadsheets are likely to get a workout. Lawmakers and Commerce staff are expected to lean on the recipient-level data and IMPLAN estimates as they weigh incentive tools, oversight, and overall performance during the General Assembly’s budget and policy debates.
The appendix from the Maryland Department of Commerce lists company-level award details that can be mined for more granular follow-up, and both critics and champions of business incentives are already pointing to the same numbers as they argue either for expanded programs or stricter accountability. For now, the report remains the central scorecard for the jobs and dollars Maryland says its incentive portfolio is putting on the board.
