Norris-Stirling House · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Pleasant Hills has higher household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
2.1% of residents live below the poverty line, where Maryland as a whole has 9.4%. Jobs and income earn Pleasant Hills A; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 6% work in Pleasant Hills itself; outside it, Baltimore draws the most (13%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Pleasant Hills apart
Pleasant Hills 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 ↓
Pleasant Hills is where the jobs are
Pleasant Hills has 2,930 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Pleasant Hills has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Pleasant Hills went from 1,872 in 2014 to 2,930 in 2024, +57%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Pleasant Hills
71% of Pleasant Hills residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 53% of the jobs based in Pleasant Hills pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Pleasant Hills’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pleasant Hills is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #50 of 261 in Maryland. Household income is its strongest input ($166,339, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pleasant Hills could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Commuting from Pleasant Hills: about 40 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pleasant Hills workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,399 commuters (the 23% 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 daily flow of workers through Pleasant Hills
On a workday 1,623 residents head out to work, 102 work right here, and 2,828 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Pleasant Hills on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Pleasant Hills makes things: 29% of its jobs are in goods
2,930 jobs are based in Pleasant Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pleasant Hills, 2014 → 2024: 1,872 → 2,930. 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 Pleasant Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Pleasant Hills
Where Pleasant Hills clocks in
13% of workers
9% 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.
Half of Pleasant Hills commutes less than 14 miles
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.
Driving is how Pleasant Hills gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pleasant Hills is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #189 of 261 in Maryland.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,814 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 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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). 0.0% of Pleasant Hills households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Pleasant Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Pleasant Hills is 240th among 4,264 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Riva MD | 4,976 | $176K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Brown Station MD | 3,451 | $169K | 3.3% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Naval Academy MD | 3,006 | $122K | 1.5% | 4.4% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 238 | Washington Township OH | 2,989 | $121K | 4.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A |
| 239 | Dale WI | 2,902 | $126K | 3.0% | 1.6% | 2% | A |
| 240 | Pleasant Hills MD | 3,836 | $166K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 6% | A |
| 241 | Lonsdale MN | 5,117 | $95K | 1.3% | 1.9% | 8% | A |
| 242 | Flower Hill NY | 4,860 | $250K | 2.9% | 5.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Pleasant Hills, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
The towns around Pleasant Hills
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pleasant Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Hills | – | A | B | 40 min | $166,339 |
| Kingsville | under 2% | A+ | C− | 27 min | $128,563 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pleasant Hills’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 Pleasant Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Pleasant Hills?
$166,339 (±$26,259) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pleasant Hills?
2.1%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pleasant Hills?
40 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pleasant Hills work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baltimore (13%, 17 mi), Bel Air (9%, 4 mi), Towson (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Pleasant Hills walkable?
Pleasant Hills is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pleasant Hills without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pleasant Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pleasant Hills
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.