Photo: Matthew Binebrink · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Cumberland earn less than those in 90% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 26.3 in Baltimore. Poverty touches 25.1% of residents; Maryland has 9.4%. Jobs and income earn Cumberland D; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Cumberland
Commutes from Cumberland are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Cumberland residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Cumberland is where the jobs are
Cumberland has 10,442 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Cumberland draws workers from far and wide
The 10,442 jobs in Cumberland are filled from a wide area. Cumberland’s own residents hold 22% and the ten next-biggest home towns 19%; the other 59% 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Cumberland
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cumberland is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #258 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Cumberland’s grade up (ahead of 49% 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, Cumberland could be anywhere from D to C−.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maryland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cumberland workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,409 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.
How many miles Cumberland commutes
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.
Cumberland by day and by night
On a workday 4,249 residents head out to work, 2,275 work right here, and 8,167 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Cumberland on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Cumberland: where workers come from
Where Cumberland clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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.
Cumberland is a services town
10,442 jobs are based in Cumberland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cumberland, 2013 → 2023: 11,888 → 10,442. 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 Cumberland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Cumberland is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
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 7,082 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 63% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 66% 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). 16.3% of Cumberland households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Cumberland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cumberland and other U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Colesville MD | 14,519 | $131K | 3.4% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Arnold MD | 24,303 | $142K | 3.1% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Damascus MD | 17,640 | $159K | 3.7% | 2.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,819 | Jacksonville TX | 14,658 | $51K | 26.5% | 6.4% | 32% | D |
| 1,820 | Oswego NY | 17,024 | $53K | 20.6% | 8.1% | 35% | D |
| 1,821 | Cumberland MD | 18,799 | $48K | 25.1% | 6.3% | 35% | D |
| 1,822 | Pampa TX | 16,414 | $57K | 17.2% | 6.1% | 35% | D |
| 1,823 | Fort Mohave AZ | 15,715 | $65K | 11.8% | 9.7% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Cumberland, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Cumberland and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cumberland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland | – | D | A | 19 min | $48,162 |
| Bowmans Addition | under 1% | C | D− | 18 min | $82,475 |
| Bowling Green | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bowling Green: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cumberland’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 Cumberland: questions
What is the median household income in Cumberland?
$48,162 (±$3,822) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cumberland?
25.1%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cumberland?
19 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cumberland work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are La Vale (5%, 4 mi), Frostburg (3%, 9 mi), Baltimore (2%, 117 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cumberland walkable?
Cumberland is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cumberland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 63% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cumberland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cumberland
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.