Baltimore County is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state. Baltimore County partly surrounds but does not include the independent city of Baltimore. It is part of the Northeast megalopolis, which stretches from Northern Virginia in the south to Boston in the north and includes major American population centers, including New York City and Philadelphia. Major economic sectors in the county include education, government, and health care. As of the 2020 census, the population was 854,535. The county is home to several universities, including Goucher College, Stevenson University, Towson University, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.