With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Cottage City works elsewhere
Employers in Cottage City report 249 jobs, against 561 working residents. Cottage City grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Only 1% work in Cottage City itself; outside it, Washington draws the most (40%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Cottage City: the gist
40% of Cottage City works in Washington
223 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Washington, DC, 4.3 miles away. That’s 40 times as many as work in Cottage City itself. The commute map ↓
Most Cottage City residents work close to home
69% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. Only 4% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
A lot of Cottage City workers cross into Washington, D.C.
37% of Cottage City workers work outside Maryland, most of them in Washington, D.C., the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 561 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Cottage City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cottage City is better than 66% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Cottage City’s grade up (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Cottage City’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cottage City could be anywhere from C+ to A.
The places Cottage City commutes to
Where Cottage City clocks in
40% of workers
2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Cottage City
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Cottage City quiets down on a workday
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 243 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Cottage City on a workday afternoon, 23% 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 2024, primary jobs.
In Cottage City, 53% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cottage City, 2014 → 2024: 434 → 249. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cottage City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 35 minutes to work from Cottage City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cottage City workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 497 commuters (the 19% 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.
Cottage City is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.4% 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 611 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, 100% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 28.3 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). 12.0% of Cottage City households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Cottage City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cottage City is 1,096th among 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Colmar Manor MD | 1,590 | $123K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | New Market MD | 1,609 | $203K | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,094 | Clay CA | 1,302 | $103K | 6.8% | 7.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,095 | Cuartelez NM | 1,512 | $114K | 5.6% | 20.8% | 0% | B+ |
| 1,096 | Cottage City MD | 1,329 | $81K | 15.0% | 6.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,097 | Los Alamos CA | 1,163 | $79K | 2.8% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,098 | Seville FL | 1,014 | $143K | 4.7% | 5.5% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Cottage City, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Cottage City and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cottage City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage City | – | B+ | A | 35 min | $80,795 |
| Colmar Manor | 1% | A+ | A+ | 33 min | $122,794 |
| Hyattsville | 1% | B+ | A+ | 34 min | $91,941 |
| Brentwood | under 2% | B− | A+ | 34 min | $69,572 |
| Bladensburg | under 2% | C | A+ | 37 min | $63,179 |
| Mount Rainier | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 32 min | $68,505 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Colmar Manor. Darker towns draw more of Cottage City’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 2024, 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 Cottage City: questions
What is the median household income in Cottage City?
$80,795 (±$20,996) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cottage City?
15.0%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cottage City?
35 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cottage City work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (40%, 4 mi), Arlington (3%, 9 mi), Baltimore (2%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cottage City walkable?
Cottage City is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cottage City without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 100% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cottage City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cottage City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.