Photo: Cecouchman · CC BY-SA 3.0Oakland has 4.4 jobs for every working resident: 2,816 people commute in to work
Measured by household income, Oakland is behind 84% of U.S. towns. Employers in Oakland report 3,012 jobs, and 692 of its residents work somewhere. Oakland grades D for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Oakland apart on work
Oakland fills up on a workday
Oakland has 3,012 jobs, 4.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,100 people are in town, more than double the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Oakland are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 115 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; with 692 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Oakland
On income, poverty and job access, Oakland is better than 12% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Oakland’s grade.
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Oakland’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, Oakland could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Oakland
On a workday 496 residents head out to work and 196 work right here.
About 4,100 people are in Oakland on a workday afternoon, 128% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 16 minutes to work from Oakland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakland workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 810 commuters (the 9% 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 Oakland’s workers come from
Where Oakland clocks in
4% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
Oakland is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakland, 2013 → 2023: 3,118 → 3,012. 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 Oakland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Oakland to work
About 22% 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.
In Oakland, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 8.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 891 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). 14.0% of Oakland households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Oakland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400, Oakland comes 4,347th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Cabin John MD | 2,179 | $250K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Colmar Manor MD | 1,590 | $123K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,345 | Deer Trail CO | 1,755 | $74K | 18.8% | 0.6% | 2% | D |
| 4,346 | Corydon IA | 1,711 | $51K | 11.5% | 5.6% | 29% | D |
| 4,347 | Oakland MD | 1,808 | $53K | 17.5% | 3.2% | 28% | D |
| 4,348 | Sanilac Township MI | 2,281 | $57K | 11.6% | 2.6% | 10% | D |
| 4,349 | Novesta Township MI | 1,428 | $54K | 11.9% | 2.5% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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 Oakland, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Oakland and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Mountain Lake Park (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oakland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland | – | D | A | 16 min | $53,289 |
| Mountain Lake Park | 4% | C− | A− | 18 min | $60,875 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oakland’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 Oakland: questions
What is the median household income in Oakland?
$53,289 (±$27,814) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakland?
17.5%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakland?
16 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakland work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mountain Lake Park (4%, 2 mi), Baltimore (2%, 149 mi), Grantsville (2%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakland walkable?
Oakland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakland without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakland
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.