Maidstone · Photo: Karlwhittington · CC BY-SA 3.0Owings’ household incomes are higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Owings A+; getting around on foot earns it B. Below the poverty line: 1.2% of residents, next to 9.4% for Maryland as a whole. Only 2% stay in Owings for work; outside it, Washington is the main destination (7%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Owings, in brief
The better-paid jobs are outside Owings
69% of Owings residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 34% of the jobs based in Owings pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Owings pay little
26% of the jobs based in Owings pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 41% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 726 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Owings
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Owings is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #41 of 261 in Maryland. The poverty rate holds Owings’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Owings could be anywhere from A to A+.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
378 jobs are based in Owings.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Owings, 2013 → 2023: 277 → 378. 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 Owings’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Owings by day and by night
On a workday 715 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 367 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Owings on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.52 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Owings ends
Where Owings clocks in
7% of workers
7% 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 34 minutes each way for Owings’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Owings workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,437 commuters (the 13% 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 Owings 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.
Driving is how Owings gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Owings is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #185 of 261 in Maryland. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,652 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 5.4% of Owings households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Owings’ commuters take a bus or train.
Owings places 163rd of 4,797 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Cabin John MD | 2,179 | $250K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Brown Station MD | 3,451 | $169K | 3.3% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Cambrian Park CA | 3,494 | $193K | 5.5% | 3.0% | <1% | A+ |
| 162 | Meridian Village CO | 2,699 | $191K | 9.6% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| 163 | Owings MD | 2,643 | $176K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 164 | Woodmont CT | 2,391 | $91K | 1.9% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| 165 | Lovettsville VA | 2,708 | $141K | 2.8% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Owings, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
The towns around Owings
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Owings workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owings | – | A+ | B | 34 min | $176,378 |
| Friendship | under 2% | — | — | 41 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Friendship: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Owings’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 Owings: questions
What is the median household income in Owings?
$176,378 (±$22,328) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Owings?
1.2%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Owings?
34 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Owings work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (7%, 26 mi), Prince Frederick (7%, 12 mi), Lake Arbor (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Owings walkable?
Owings is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Owings without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Owings, from the people who make the trip.
More of Owings
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.