Rockville, MD Economic Overview
One of Maryland’s oldest towns, Rockville is a central city located in Montgomery County, forming part of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Rockville is home to 64,331 residents and is at the core of the Interstate 270 Technology Corridor. The Corridor is home to numerous software and biotechnology companies, as well as several federal government institutions. Rockville has grown very rapidly from a leisurely, agriculturally-orientated county seat to a cosmopolitan city with many neighborhoods. The city also has several upscale regional shopping centers, making the Rockville commercial real estate market a major hub in Montgomery County.
Rockville’s economy continues to expand with strong performance and has historically been a major economic hub with over 75,000 jobs. Part of a regional economy, Rockville showcases many different job clusters and commuting patterns between employees’ work locations and where they live. Up to 15% of Rockville’s residents also work in the city, meaning that 85% commute outside the city for work. Although a relatively quiet city, Rockville is located on the Interstate 270 Highway (I-270), connecting the city to an iconic strip of biotech firms. This includes healthcare firms like Emergent BioSolutions, Human Genome Sciences, and Adventist Healthcare. Overall, Rockville is a desirable location in the growing Metropolitan Washington region with both key private and public sector employment, including Montgomery College and the nearby campus of the Universities of Maryland and the recently constructed National Cancer Institute.
Rockville, MD Commercial Real Estate Market
Rockville’s office space accommodates over 49,100 jobs in the city, representing 63% of all Rockville jobs. There are a variety of office spaces in the city, including individual buildings, such as those in Town center and along Rockville Pike, or in campus office parks. The majority of office employment is located along Rockville Pike, Research/King Farm/Piccard/Fallsgrove, Town Center and Tower areas in 600 acres or 8.5% of the total city land area. This amounts to over 12 million square feet of total office space, with more than 42% of Rockville’s office jobs located in the I-270 corridor. While the federal government’s Freeze the Footprint initiative to reduce the amount of private space leased has resulted in some reduction, office space related employment is projected to grow through to 2040, and the city has made the necessary proposals for new, additional office developments.
Rockville Town Center is a thriving and increasingly attractive downtown core and offers a mix of office space, restaurants, services, culture and government uses, now including a full-service headquarters hotel. It currently hosts the majority of the city’s employment outside of the education sector. Local government generates a large amount of activity here and supports many Town Center private-sector activities, including retail, restaurants, medical office and general office space. The Rockville Town Center commercial real estate market is a highly competitive area for commercial real estate throughout the region, and offers over 3.1 million square feet of office space, including for firms in the biomedical sector. Other biomedical firms are located throughout the city.
Research/Piccard/King Farm is the largest employment region in the Rockville city area, offering over 21,000 jobs. The Rockville Research/Piccard/King Farm office market includes over 15.2 million square feet of office space in the North West of the city. The Research/Piccard/King Farm area is the largest area of concentrated office space along the I-270.
Rockville Pike is located at the south end of the city and includes just over 1.5 million square feet of office space. The Rockville Pike office market is also nearby neighboring office parks in Rock Spring and Executive Boulevard.
Rockville, MD Office Sales Volume
Data provided by Yardi Matrix, for properties larger than 50K SF, which sold at over $5M.
Rockville, MD Office Transactions
Data provided by Yardi Matrix, for properties larger than 50K SF, which sold at over $5M.
Rockville, MD Commercial Inventory Breakdown
Office Spaces
Total: 26,278,190 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 4,263,047 SF / 16.22% of total office
- 100k to 500k SF: 19,458,712 SF / 74.05% of total office
- 500k to 1M SF: 1,223,949 SF / 4.66% of total office
- > 1M SF: 1,332,482 SF / 5.07% of total office
By class:
- Class A: 11,165,549 SF / 42.49% of total office
- Class B: 12,403,563 SF / 47.2% of total office
- Class C: 109,304 SF / 0.42% of total office
Industrial
Total: 1,946,073 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 1,238,867 SF / 63.66% of total industrial
- 100k to 500k SF: 707,206 SF / 36.34% of total industrial
By class:
- Class A: 388,022 SF / 19.94% of total industrial
- Class B: 1,558,051 SF / 80.06% of total industrial
Office Spaces with Retail
Total: 3,822,335 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 960,957 SF / 25.14% of total office with retail
- 100k to 500k SF: 2,861,378 SF / 74.86% of total office with retail
Employment in Rockville, MD
Rockville jobs are primarily knowledge-based, with a high concentration of jobs in public administration, professional, scientific and technical services, education services, and healthcare. Local government and education are among the highest employers. Local government, in its many forms, is a key anchor for the health of Rockville’s Town Center and has created many spinoff employment opportunities in the area.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following sectors employ the most people in the region:
- Professional and business services – currently employs 131,100, growing at 2.8%/year
- Government – currently employs 114,500, growing at 1.9%/year
- Education and Health Services – currently employs 92,500, growing at 1.3%/year
Education in Rockville, MD
Rockville is home to Montgomery College (Rockville Campus), as well as satellite campuses of the University of Maryland University College, the John Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus, and the University at Shady Grove. Rockville is served by Montgomery County Public Schools, which include three high schools in the area. There are also three major private high schools in Rockville.
Commuting Time in Rockville, MD
Rockville is frequently commuted to by workers coming from outside the city—only 14.9% of Rockville’s resident workforce lives and is employed in the city. Just about 56% of total Rockville residents commute less than 10 miles to work and only 47.6% of Rockville workers commute less than 10 miles to work.
The Red line of the Washington metro rail system serves the Rockville and Twinbrook station, and the Brunswick Line of the MARC commuter rail system, running to and from Washington, DC, at the Rockville Station. Amtrak also provides intercity train service to Rockville from Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Washington, DC.
Rockville Demographics
Population
- Total Population67,542
- Male Population(47.4 %) 32,007
- Female Population(52.6 %) 35,535
- Median Age38.70
Income/Financial
- Average Household Income$134,196
- Median Household Income$106,576
- Median Income Under 25$47,361
- Median Income 25-44$105,054
- Median Income 45-64$131,833
- Median Income Over 65$84,878
News
Rockville, Md.-based Emmes Corp. announced that it is expanding its operations and opening a second office location in Greater Washington D.C. The biotechnology company is celebrating its 40th anniversary in stride—ranked as one of the best workplaces in Maryland for the second year in a row by ...
HFF announced it has brokered the sale of Meritage Properties’ Shady Grove Plaza, located in Rockville, Md., a highly desirable Washington DC suburban office market. The four-story, 184,290-square-foot office building at 15245 Shady Grove Road is located in the Interstate 270 corridor of Montgom...
Executive Summary 2017 records highest Q1 sales volume in the past 4 years average price per square foot drops 8.8% year-over-year to $300 largest office sales of Q1 closed by Asian investors three office developments on track for Q2 delivery Despite the tumultuous political environment of the p...