Photo: Adavidb at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Laurel has higher household incomes than 77% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 9.0%, where Maryland as a whole has 9.4%. For jobs and income Laurel is better than 76% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 9.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 26.3 in Baltimore.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Laurel in brief
Where Laurel’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Laurel’s grade up (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Laurel could be anywhere from B to A.
16% of working residents work in Washington
Where Laurel clocks in
16% of workers
4% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Laurel
On a workday 12,770 residents head out to work, 613 work right here, and 10,482 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 (0.83 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.
Inside Laurel’s 11,095 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laurel, 2013 → 2023: 11,324 → 11,095. 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 Laurel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Laurel takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laurel workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,614 commuters (the 17% 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.
The commute from Laurel, by distance
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.
Laurel is easy on foot, hard by bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.5% 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 17,625 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% 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 9.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% 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). 6.5% of Laurel households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Laurel’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Laurel is 556th of 1,415 U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Severna Park MD | 40,228 | $170K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | North Laurel MD | 25,563 | $123K | 4.7% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Arnold MD | 24,303 | $142K | 3.1% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 554 | Ossining NY | 39,964 | $126K | 8.8% | 5.5% | 11% | A− |
| 555 | Derby KS | 26,606 | $84K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 15% | A− |
| 556 | Laurel MD | 30,254 | $101K | 9.0% | 4.7% | 5% | A− |
| 557 | Englewood CO | 35,305 | $87K | 7.7% | 4.3% | 7% | A− |
| 558 | Springville UT | 35,670 | $90K | 7.3% | 3.2% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Laurel, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Laurel and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to North Laurel (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laurel workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurel | – | A− | A | 31 min | $100,504 |
| Maryland City | under 2% | A− | A− | 30 min | $117,337 |
| Konterra | under 2% | A− | B− | 30 min | $130,000 |
| South Laurel | under 2% | B | A | 33 min | $88,933 |
| North Laurel | 2% | A+ | B+ | 28 min | $122,949 |
| West Laurel | under 2% | A | C+ | 37 min | $164,688 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Laurel’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 Laurel: questions
What is the median household income in Laurel?
$100,504 (±$7,755) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laurel?
9.0%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laurel?
31 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laurel work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (16%, 16 mi), Columbia (5%, 7 mi), Baltimore (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Laurel walkable?
Laurel is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laurel without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 63% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laurel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laurel
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.