Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Mount Airy have higher incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 2.3% of residents, where Maryland as a whole has 9.4%. The two grades for Mount Airy are A+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in ten work in Mount Airy itself; outside it, Frederick draws the most (8%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Mount Airy
Mount Airy trades workers with the towns around it
Mount Airy has about as many jobs (4,925) as working residents (4,220), but they are mostly different people: 3,838 residents leave for work each day while 4,543 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Mount Airy are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Mount Airy’s commute
The biggest draw, Frederick, gets only 8% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Mount Airy residents fan out across the region. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Mount Airy’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mount Airy is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #19 of 261 in Maryland. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Airy could be anywhere from A to A+.
Mount Airy on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,838 residents head out to work, 382 work right here, and 4,543 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 (1.17 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.
The towns that employ Mount Airy’s residents
Where Mount Airy clocks in
8% 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.
What Mount Airy’s employers do
4,925 jobs are based in Mount Airy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Airy, 2013 → 2023: 4,454 → 4,925. 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 Mount Airy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Mount Airy: about 33 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Airy workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,507 commuters (the 18% 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.
Where in the region Mount Airy works
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.
For most of Mount Airy, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Airy is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #193 of 261 in Maryland. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 5,480 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). 3.2% of Mount Airy households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mount Airy’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Mount Airy is 82nd of 2,761 U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Chevy Chase MD | 9,445 | $212K | 4.3% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Annapolis Neck MD | 12,032 | $174K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Merton WI | 8,319 | $119K | 2.6% | 1.7% | 4% | A+ |
| 81 | Waikele HI | 7,528 | $121K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 82 | Mount Airy MD | 9,857 | $151K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 9% | A+ |
| 83 | Gretna NE | 9,207 | $124K | 4.2% | 0.6% | 11% | A+ |
| 84 | South Weber UT | 8,218 | $139K | 2.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,761 | 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 Mount Airy, 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 Mount Airy: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Airy?
$151,324 (±$12,406) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Airy?
2.3%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Airy?
33 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Airy work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Frederick (8%, 14 mi), Baltimore (6%, 30 mi), Columbia (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Airy walkable?
Mount Airy is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Airy without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Airy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Airy
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.