Nestled in the mountains of Western Maryland, the small town of Cumberland has been having an unexpected revival as remote workers move in and it upgrades its historic downtown.
To keep the momentum going, the city launched a pilot program last week to offer up to $20,000 to 10 families who relocate and commit to staying for at least five years.
“We used to be the best-kept secret, but we don’t need to be the best-kept secret anymore,” said city planner and grants manager Ruth Davis-Rogers.
Modeled after relocation initiatives in Rochester, New York and West Virginia, Cumberland’s program offers $10,000 in relocation fees and up to a $10,000 match for a down payment or renovations on a home in the city limits.
To be eligible, families must agree to move to Cumberland in the next six months and stay for the following five years. If grantees leave before the five-year mark, they must repay the city.
“We don’t want flippers,” Davis-Rogers said. “We want people who are going to become part of the community.”
Cumberland is already increasingly on the radar of home buyers. The National Association of Realtors ranked Cumberland among the fastest-growing housing markets in the country for 2024, and Realtor.com listed it as one of the top metro areas where Gen Z is purchasing homes.
This influx of post-pandemic transplants was key inspiration for the program, Davis-Rogers said, and the city leveraged the trend to help secure the $200,000 pilot grant from the state.
Since its launch on Friday, Davis-Rogers said they have already received some “wonderful applications” from families in North Carolina, Virginia and Baltimore.
Between the pilot program and its unveiling of streetscaping and infrastructure improvements downtown, planned for this fall, Cumberland hopes its efforts to attract and maintain new residents will pay off.
Cumberland once was a thriving industrial hub, dubbed Maryland’s “Queen City,” with a population second only to Baltimore. It lost prominence over many generations, as cheaper labor and lower production costs lured manufacturing plants away. Today, its population is about 19,000.
“Cities are like rivers,” Davis-Rogers said. “They change — and we’re just here trying to help manage the change wisely.”
More information about the Cumberland Relocation Program can be found here.
