Pine Street Neighborhood Historic District · Photo: Daniel L. Brandewie · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Cambridge trail those of 91% of U.S. towns
Cambridge grades D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Below the poverty line: 26.4% of residents; Maryland has 9.4%. 7% of workers have no commute at all, against 19% across Maryland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Cambridge, in brief
Cambridge trades workers with the towns around it
Cambridge has about as many jobs (6,312) as working residents (5,631), but they are mostly different people: 4,189 residents leave for work each day while 4,870 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Cambridge are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cambridge are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker. Time on the road ↓
Cambridge draws workers from far and wide
The 6,312 jobs in Cambridge are filled from a wide area. Cambridge’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Where Cambridge’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cambridge is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #259 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Cambridge’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cambridge could be anywhere from D− to D.
Cambridge by day and by night
On a workday 4,189 residents head out to work, 1,442 work right here, and 4,870 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.12 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 24 minutes to work from Cambridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cambridge workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,279 commuters (the 7% 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.
10% of working residents work in Easton
Where Cambridge clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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.
What Cambridge’s employers do
6,312 jobs are based in Cambridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cambridge, 2013 → 2023: 5,853 → 6,312. 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 Cambridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Cambridge goes to work
About 29% 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.
Getting around Cambridge: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cambridge is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #168 of 261 in Maryland. Both inputs place Cambridge near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,673 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 21.5% of Cambridge households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cambridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cambridge next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Chevy Chase MD | 9,445 | $212K | 4.3% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Annapolis Neck MD | 12,032 | $174K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,468 | Grenada MS | 12,088 | $46K | 26.6% | 7.1% | 45% | D |
| 2,469 | Elk City OK | 11,335 | $51K | 22.8% | 8.4% | 46% | D |
| 2,470 | Cambridge MD | 13,457 | $47K | 26.4% | 8.7% | 26% | D |
| 2,471 | Massena NY | 9,898 | $51K | 24.3% | 6.5% | 31% | D |
| 2,472 | Beverly Hills FL | 9,650 | $46K | 19.8% | 8.9% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Cambridge, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Cambridge and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Cambridge’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 Cambridge: questions
What is the median household income in Cambridge?
$47,323 (±$7,747) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cambridge?
26.4%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cambridge?
24 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cambridge work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Easton (10%, 15 mi), Baltimore (5%, 59 mi), Salisbury (4%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cambridge walkable?
Cambridge is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cambridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cambridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cambridge
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.