Market Update: BEACON Releases Latest Eastern Shore Business Sentiment Survey Results – Monday March 16, 2026 – Full Analysis

SALISBURY, MD—Eastern Shore business leaders’ recent expectations of the economy showed mixed signals.

The diverged sentiment, found in both short- and long-term outlook, with outlook stabilizing on a county and regional level while sentiment statewide took a downturn, is among the findings of the latest Eastern Shore Business Sentiment Survey conducted through a partnership with Salisbury University’s Business Economic and Community Outreach Network (BEACON), SU’s Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative (ESRGC), and many of the region’s economic and workforce development professionals.

The winter 2026 results represent the tenth report released by BEACON. The first survey in the series was conducted in June 2021, with subsequent six-month follow-ups.

The survey asked business leaders to weigh in on a range of topics, from general business concerns to conditions in their own industries. Respondents evaluated business conditions locally, regionally, in the state, and nationwide for the coming year. They also shared views related to their specific industries and on issues from labor supply to tariffs, regulations, and financing.

Winter 2026 results include:

•    The six-month outlook for business conditions in both the local and national economy has shown signs of stabilization. In the winter 2026 survey, a notable finding was the increase in respondents who expect conditions to remain unchanged over the next 12 months. In the most recent survey, this share rose to 25% at the national level and 39% at the local level, representing 6% and 11% increases, respectively, over the past six months. This shift toward neutrality appears to be driven primarily by a decline in negative outlooks.

•    When compared to data from one year ago, a key shift that emerged was the widening discrepancy in sentiment between the local and national levels, including an 11% increase in negative sentiment at the state and national level. At the local level, respondents’ negative outlook remained unchanged.

•    After a 20% increase in negative sentiment during the prior six months, sentiment held steady, with responses on both levels remaining within a 5% range compared to the summer 2025 survey.

•    Payroll and benefit costs continue to see a primarily negative outlook, with roughly 60% of respondents holding a negative outlook for the next 12 months. Sentiment declined slightly at the national level, with a 4% decrease in respondents reporting a positive outlook and a 3% increase in those with a negative outlook. At the local level, sentiment remained essentially unchanged.

•    Utilities have steadily grown in their impact on businesses, rising from third place in the winter 2025 survey to second in summer 2025 and now ranking first. Fuel has seen a steady decrease. 

•    During the summer 2025 survey, expectations for the standard of living in five years were essentially the same at both the national and local levels, with 33% of respondents reporting a positive outlook, 26% reporting a neutral outlook, and 41% holding a negative outlook. In the 2026 winter survey, sentiment began to diverge. At the local level, with a shift toward a more neutral outlook, while the state and national levels increased negative sentiment. Although the proportion of respondents with a negative outlook stayed mostly the same at the national level, there was a notable shift in respondents from a positive to neutral outlook.

•    Finances/funding, inflation, and labor force issues were the top three barriers for business in both starting up and expansion. These top three have shifted since the summer 2025 survey, which had regulations in the top three from both. Regulations was the prior top barrier in expansion and the third highest in starting out. Labor force issues have remained a top issue in both sections. Inflation maintained a top issue in expansion and finances/funding in starting a business.

BEACON has evaluated the accuracy of prior surveys by comparing respondents’ expectations with actual results. Three primary questions asked about expectations over the next 12 months for unemployment, business conditions, and payroll and benefit costs, the winter 2025 survey shows that respondents were largely accurate in their expectations. The majority of respondents expected unemployment and payroll and benefit costs to be unchanged or worse. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other public sources for 2025 shows this to have been true across a variety of different indicators. Similarly, respondents expected business conditions to be unchanged or better throughout 2025, and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that results in nearly all categories were either unchanged or better.

Counties on the Eastern Shore will continue to conduct the survey every six months, with the data used to identify challenges facing the region, to assist in long-term planning and to guide the development of public policy.

The Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative (ESRGC) summarized the findings in infographics that can be found on the Eastern Shore Economic Recovery Project website, but economic developers also have access to an internal dashboard that enables them to mine the data for insight on specific issues.

Designed to gauge the opinions of the region’s business leaders, this survey is one of the tools created as part of the Eastern Shore Economic Recovery Project, a venture made possible by grants from the U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA). The Mid-Shore Regional Council and the Tri-County Council of the Lower Eastern Shore are recognized as Economic Development Districts by the EDA.

The data tools used in the project have been recognized with regional and national accolades including the Maryland Economic Development Association’s 2022 Economic Development Program Award, the 2022 International Economic Development Council Silver Award, and the 2022 National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award. 

In addition to the regional councils, partners in the project include ESRGC, BEACON, the Lower Shore Workforce Alliance, the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board, and the Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties economic development offices. 

To access Eastern Shore Economic Recovery Project data, visit https://recovery.delmarvaindex.org. The complete Delmarva Index can be found online.

For more information visit the BEACON webpage and the ESRGC website.

Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at the SU website.