Bel Air has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
146 jobs are based in Bel Air; 683 of its residents have a job. Bel Air grades A− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 1% work in Bel Air itself; outside it, Cumberland draws the most (27%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bel Air
Most Bel Air residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Bel Air is a place people come home to
There are 146 jobs based in Bel Air, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Bel Air has about 1,300 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Bel Air and Cumberland trade workers both ways
Cumberland is the top workplace for Bel Air residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Bel Air come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 683 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Bel Air’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Bel Air is better than 80% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Bel Air’s grade up (0.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Bel Air’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bel Air stays A−.
The commute from Bel Air, by distance
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
How a workday changes Bel Air
On a workday 676 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 139 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Bel Air on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Bel Air work
Where Bel Air clocks in
27% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Bel Air
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bel Air, 2013 → 2023: 127 → 146. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bel Air’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Bel Air: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bel Air workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 701 commuters (the 18% who work from home are left out). Across Maryland: 80% drive alone, 5% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Most trips from Bel Air start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bel Air is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 855 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 8% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Bel Air households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bel Air’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Bel Air is 698th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Cabin John MD | 2,179 | $250K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Colmar Manor MD | 1,590 | $123K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 696 | Cuba City WI | 2,103 | $75K | 2.1% | 0.4% | 9% | A− |
| 697 | Essex Township IL | 1,487 | $101K | 2.5% | 4.7% | 1% | A− |
| 698 | Bel Air MD | 1,837 | $98K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| 699 | Goose Creek Village VA | 2,461 | $199K | 13.7% | 3.3% | 1% | A− |
| 700 | Morrison WI | 1,706 | $101K | 7.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bel Air, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Work in the towns next to Bel Air
The biggest share goes to Cresaptown (6%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bel Air workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bel Air | – | A− | B | 24 min | $97,685 |
| Cresaptown | 6% | B | B+ | 21 min | $68,370 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bel Air’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bel Air: questions
What is the median household income in Bel Air?
$97,685 (±$9,282) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bel Air?
0.2%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bel Air?
24 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bel Air work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cumberland (27%, 7 mi), Cresaptown (6%, 1 mi), La Vale (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bel Air walkable?
Bel Air is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bel Air without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bel Air, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bel Air
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.