Photo: USDAgov · Public domainChevy Chase ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
4.3% of residents are in poverty, where Maryland as a whole has 9.4%. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Chevy Chase grades A+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Chevy Chase, in brief
Home offices are common in Chevy Chase
41% of Chevy Chase workers work from home, against 19% across Maryland. Time on the road ↓
Most Chevy Chase residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 5% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Chevy Chase is services
94% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Four in five Chevy Chase workers earn over $40,000 a year
81% of Chevy Chase’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
One in three of Chevy Chase works in Washington
1,191 working residents, 34%, have their main job in Washington, DC, 6.8 miles away. That’s 34 times as many as work in Chevy Chase itself. 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.
Jobs & income in Chevy Chase: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chevy Chase is among the top U.S. towns, #8 of 261 in Maryland. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Chevy Chase’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chevy Chase stays A+.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Chevy Chase
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chevy Chase workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,984 commuters (the 41% 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.
Half of Chevy Chase commutes less than 7 miles
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.
In Chevy Chase, services account for most jobs
2,826 jobs are based in Chevy Chase.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chevy Chase, 2013 → 2023: 3,058 → 2,826. 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 Chevy Chase’s own residents hold wherever they work.
34% of working residents work in Washington
Where Chevy Chase clocks in
34% of workers
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.
In and out of Chevy Chase on a workday
On a workday 3,506 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 2,780 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 (0.80 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.
Chevy Chase is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,024 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 34.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most 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). 7.9% of Chevy Chase households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Chevy Chase’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chevy Chase next to U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,800: 34th of 2,831 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Oak Point TX | 6,909 | $126K | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 33 | Lucas TX | 8,896 | $221K | 1.3% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 34 | Chevy Chase MD | 9,445 | $212K | 4.3% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| 35 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 36 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Annapolis Neck MD | 12,032 | $174K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Fairwood MD | 7,526 | $181K | 6.5% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,831 | 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 Chevy Chase, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Bordering towns draw 14% of Chevy Chase’s workers
The biggest share goes to Bethesda (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chevy Chase workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevy Chase | – | A+ | A+ | 28 min | $211,765 |
| Silver Spring | 2% | B+ | A+ | 34 min | $99,860 |
| South Kensington | under 2% | A | A+ | 29 min | $210,953 |
| Bethesda | 12% | A+ | A+ | 28 min | $192,237 |
| Chevy Chase Section Five | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Martin's Additions | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Chevy Chase Section Five: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Martin's Additions: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chevy Chase’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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 25% of Chevy Chase workers work outside Maryland. The job records count 38% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Chevy Chase: questions
What is the median household income in Chevy Chase?
$211,765 (±$20,243) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chevy Chase?
4.3%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chevy Chase?
28 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 41% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chevy Chase work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (34%, 7 mi), Bethesda (12%, 2 mi), Rockville (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chevy Chase walkable?
Chevy Chase is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chevy Chase without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chevy Chase, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chevy Chase
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.