A job hub: Fort Meade has 2.3 jobs per working resident, and 5,408 people come in to work
Fort Meade has 5,472 jobs, against 2,351 working residents. The two grades for Fort Meade are A for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 26.3 in Baltimore.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fort Meade, in a few figures
Commutes from Fort Meade are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 115 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker, and quicker than any town next door (27 to 30 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Fort Meade is where the jobs are
Fort Meade has 5,472 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fort Meade draws workers from far and wide
The 5,472 jobs in Fort Meade are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 26%; the other 73% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The jobs in Fort Meade pay better than its residents’ jobs
87% of the jobs based in Fort Meade pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 71% of the jobs Fort Meade residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Fort Meade. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Fort Meade’s workers comes from Baltimore
329 of the people who work in Fort Meade live in Baltimore, 15 miles away, more than from any other town. 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.
Why Fort Meade gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Meade is better than 91% of U.S. towns, #66 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Meade could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Commuting from Fort Meade: about 16 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Meade workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,652 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.
Who works in Fort Meade, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,287 residents head out to work and 64 work right here.
About 14,000 people are in Fort Meade on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Who travels to work in Fort Meade, and from where
Where Fort Meade clocks in
12% of workers
9% 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 Fort Meade, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Meade, 2013 → 2023: 4,447 → 5,472. 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 Fort Meade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Fort Meade
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.
Fort Meade is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Meade is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #151 of 261 in Maryland. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,292 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% 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). 1.4% of Fort Meade households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Fort Meade’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fort Meade ranks: 355th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Chevy Chase MD | 9,445 | $212K | 4.3% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Annapolis Neck MD | 12,032 | $174K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Buxton ME | 8,681 | $100K | 2.3% | 1.4% | 8% | A |
| 354 | Southwick MA | 9,305 | $120K | 4.0% | 3.1% | 11% | A |
| 355 | Fort Meade MD | 11,225 | $103K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| 356 | Utica Township IN | 9,258 | $103K | 4.0% | 3.2% | 10% | A |
| 357 | Williston VT | 9,975 | $107K | 4.3% | 1.6% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Fort Meade, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Fort Meade and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Severn (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Meade workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Meade | – | A | A− | 16 min | $103,261 |
| Severn | 2% | A | A− | 28 min | $134,423 |
| Odenton | under 2% | A+ | A− | 29 min | $128,441 |
| Maryland City | under 2% | A− | A− | 30 min | $117,337 |
| Jessup | 2% | A− | B+ | 27 min | $128,851 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Meade’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 Fort Meade: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Meade?
$103,261 (±$9,448) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Meade?
4.1%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Meade?
16 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Meade work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (12%, 20 mi), Baltimore (9%, 15 mi), Columbia (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Meade walkable?
Fort Meade is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Meade without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Meade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Meade
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.