Photo: Bohemian Baltimore · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Mechanicsville top those of 88% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 2.9% of residents, where Maryland as a whole has 9.4%. For jobs and income Mechanicsville is better than 77% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−). 11% of workers have no commute at all, where Maryland as a whole has 19%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 31 across Maryland. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Mechanicsville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Mechanicsville went from 375 in 2014 to 537 in 2024, +43%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 611 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Mechanicsville
The poverty rate holds Mechanicsville’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Mechanicsville’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, Mechanicsville could be anywhere from B to A−.
Commuting from Mechanicsville: about 40 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mechanicsville workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 600 commuters (the 11% 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 kinds of work in Mechanicsville
537 jobs are based in Mechanicsville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mechanicsville, 2014 → 2024: 375 → 537. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mechanicsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Mechanicsville
On a workday 598 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 524 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 (0.88 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Waldorf
Where Mechanicsville clocks in
8% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
How many miles Mechanicsville commutes
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Mechanicsville, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 674 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). 0.0% of Mechanicsville households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Mechanicsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Mechanicsville ranks 708th of 5,877 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Colmar Manor MD | 1,590 | $123K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | New Market MD | 1,609 | $203K | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 706 | Hammond Township IN | 1,645 | $84K | 4.4% | 1.1% | 1% | A− |
| 707 | Franklin Township IN | 1,297 | $105K | 6.5% | 0.5% | 2% | A− |
| 708 | Mechanicsville MD | 1,395 | $121K | 2.9% | 1.9% | 2% | A− |
| 709 | Weston MO | 1,855 | $89K | 5.7% | 2.2% | 15% | A− |
| 710 | Hollis Township IL | 1,789 | $87K | 5.5% | 2.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Mechanicsville, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Next door to Mechanicsville
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mechanicsville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanicsville | – | A− | B− | 40 min | $120,966 |
| Charlotte Hall | under 2% | C | B+ | 32 min | $84,271 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mechanicsville’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 2024, 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 Mechanicsville: questions
What is the median household income in Mechanicsville?
$120,966 (±$37,197) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mechanicsville?
2.9%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mechanicsville?
40 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mechanicsville work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waldorf (8%, 16 mi), Leonardtown (6%, 10 mi), California (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mechanicsville walkable?
Mechanicsville is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mechanicsville without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mechanicsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mechanicsville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.