Photo: Aude · CC BY-SA 2.5Household incomes in Hancock trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
7% of workers have no commute at all, against 19% across Maryland. 23.7% of residents live below the poverty line (Maryland 9.4%). Hancock grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hancock and work: the main findings
Hancock’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hancock is Hagerstown, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (71) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Hancock
57% of Hancock residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 33% of the jobs based in Hancock pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 88% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 679 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Hancock’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Hancock is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Hancock’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($34,886, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Hancock’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Hancock could be anywhere from D− to D.
Hancock’s commute, mile by mile
About 31% 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.
The 804 jobs based in Hancock
804 jobs are based in Hancock.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hancock, 2013 → 2023: 915 → 804. 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 Hancock’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Hancock
On a workday 596 residents head out to work, 83 work right here, and 721 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 (1.18 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.
10% of working residents work in Hagerstown
Where Hancock clocks in
10% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
About 37 minutes to work from Hancock
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hancock workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 566 commuters (the 7% 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.
In Hancock, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hancock is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 609 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 13.0% of Hancock households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hancock’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hancock and other U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Colmar Manor MD | 1,590 | $123K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,249 | Butler AL | 1,698 | $47K | 16.5% | 1.8% | 23% | D |
| 5,250 | St. Francis KS | 1,265 | $50K | 15.4% | 3.3% | 40% | D |
| 5,251 | Hancock MD | 1,581 | $35K | 23.7% | 2.7% | 12% | D |
| 5,252 | Van Horn TX | 2,020 | $60K | 21.1% | 1.4% | 33% | D |
| 5,253 | Enosburg Falls VT | 1,329 | $51K | 19.4% | 3.7% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Hancock, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
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 Hancock: questions
What is the median household income in Hancock?
$34,886 (±$10,327) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hancock?
23.7%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hancock?
37 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hancock work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hagerstown (10%, 24 mi), Frederick (4%, 44 mi), Baltimore (3%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hancock walkable?
Hancock is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hancock without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hancock, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hancock
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.