Photo: Yaoiloverr · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Bel Air has 3.0 jobs per working resident, and 14,183 people come in to work
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 26.3 in Baltimore. Bel Air has 14,915 jobs for 4,914 working residents. Jobs and income earn Bel Air B−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bel Air and work: the main findings
Bel Air has far more jobs than workers
Bel Air has 14,915 jobs, 3.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 21,000 people are in town, 95% more than the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Bel Air has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Bel Air went from 10,364 in 2013 to 14,915 in 2023, +44%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Bel Air’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bel Air is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #224 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Bel Air’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bel Air could be anywhere from C to A−.
Bel Air nearly doubles on a workday
On a workday 4,182 residents head out to work and 732 work right here.
About 21,000 people are in Bel Air on a workday afternoon, 95% more 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bel Air, 2013 → 2023: 10,364 → 14,915. 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.
Commuting in to Bel Air: where workers come from
Where Bel Air clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
About 28 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maryland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 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 5,083 commuters (the 10% 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.
Miles to work from Bel Air
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.
Bel Air is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bel Air is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #111 of 261 in Maryland. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.0% across Maryland.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,648 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% 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 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 5.9% of Bel Air households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bel Air’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bel Air next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 1,697th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Chevy Chase MD | 9,445 | $212K | 4.3% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Annapolis Neck MD | 12,032 | $174K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,695 | Harrison Township IN | 13,718 | $67K | 9.0% | 4.4% | 26% | B− |
| 1,696 | Sumpter Township MI | 11,384 | $76K | 12.7% | 5.4% | 3% | B− |
| 1,697 | Bel Air MD | 10,507 | $75K | 13.8% | 4.4% | 15% | B− |
| 1,698 | Winterville NC | 10,973 | $83K | 9.8% | 5.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,699 | Harrison Township IN | 9,017 | $62K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 28% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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.
How Bel Air compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Bel Air South (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bel Air workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bel Air | – | B− | A | 28 min | $74,605 |
| Bel Air North | 4% | A | B− | 33 min | $137,336 |
| Bel Air South | 5% | A | B+ | 31 min | $123,653 |
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?
$74,605 (±$10,974) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bel Air?
13.8%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bel Air?
28 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bel Air work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baltimore (12%, 22 mi), Bel Air South (5%, 3 mi), Towson (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bel Air walkable?
Bel Air is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bel Air without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% 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.