Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0College students make up 35% of Frostburg’s residents
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 26.3 in Baltimore. The two grades for Frostburg are C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Measured by family income, Frostburg is behind 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Frostburg at work: what stands out
Frostburg trades workers with the towns around it
Frostburg has about as many jobs (2,178) as working residents (2,269), but they are mostly different people: 1,847 residents leave for work each day while 1,756 people come in. Only 19% of the jobs in Frostburg are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Frostburg is services
92% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Frostburg and Cumberland trade workers both ways
Cumberland is the top workplace for Frostburg residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Frostburg come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Frostburg are quick
The average trip to work takes 26 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Frostburg earns its Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Frostburg is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #256 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Frostburg’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.5%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (24% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 18.5%, against 28.8% for all residents. Unemployment (6.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($73,854), since student households pull the household median down ($52,977).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Frostburg could be anywhere from D to B.
The daily flow of workers through Frostburg
On a workday 1,847 residents head out to work, 422 work right here, and 1,756 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 (0.96 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.
In Frostburg, services account for most jobs
2,178 jobs are based in Frostburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Frostburg, 2013 → 2023: 2,448 → 2,178. 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 Frostburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
18% of working residents work in Cumberland
Where Frostburg clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Frostburg
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Frostburg workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,264 commuters (the 14% 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 Frostburg commutes
About 26% 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.
Frostburg is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Frostburg is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #58 of 261 in Maryland. Both inputs place Frostburg 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 2,646 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 10.9% of Frostburg households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Frostburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,167 U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400, Frostburg comes 2,741st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Fulton MD | 5,677 | $222K | 0.7% | 1.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Riva MD | 4,976 | $176K | 1.1% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Hampton MD | 5,372 | $171K | 3.8% | 0.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,739 | Lake Township PA | 4,910 | $60K | 12.3% | 8.8% | 4% | C− |
| 2,740 | LaBelle FL | 5,754 | $53K | 17.2% | 4.4% | 17% | C− |
| 2,741 | Frostburg MD | 6,979 | $53K | 28.8% | 6.7% | 19% | C− |
| 2,742 | Umatilla OR | 8,220 | $69K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 11% | C− |
| 2,743 | Georgetown Township IL | 7,100 | $57K | 19.4% | 5.4% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | 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 Frostburg, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Frostburg and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Frostburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frostburg | – | C− | A+ | 26 min | $52,977 |
| Grahamtown | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Eckhart Mines | under 1% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Zihlman | under 1% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Grahamtown, Eckhart Mines and Zihlman: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Frostburg’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.
- Students. 35% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Frostburg: questions
What is the median household income in Frostburg?
$52,977 (±$7,052) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Frostburg?
28.8% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 18.5%. Maryland: 9.4%.
How long is the commute from Frostburg?
26 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Frostburg work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cumberland (18%, 9 mi), La Vale (5%, 6 mi), Cresaptown (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Frostburg walkable?
Frostburg is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Frostburg without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Frostburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Frostburg
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.