Araby · Photo: Preservation Maryland · CC BY-SA 2.0Potomac Heights has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
For jobs and income Potomac Heights is better than 60% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−). Employers in Potomac Heights report 116 jobs, against 430 working residents. 4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 19% for Maryland as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Potomac Heights
Potomac Heights is a place people come home to
There are 116 jobs based in Potomac Heights, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Potomac Heights’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Potomac Heights is Washington, DC, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (46) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Potomac Heights workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 19% across Maryland. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 430 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Potomac Heights’ Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Potomac Heights’ grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($71,786, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.2%) is left out: Potomac Heights’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Potomac Heights could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Who leaves Potomac Heights for work, and who comes in
On a workday 426 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 112 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Potomac Heights on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer 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.
The distance from Potomac Heights to work
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.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Potomac Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Potomac Heights workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 599 commuters (the 4% 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.
11% of working residents work in Washington
Where Potomac Heights clocks in
11% of workers
10% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Potomac Heights
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Potomac Heights, 2013 → 2023: 161 → 116. 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 Potomac Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Potomac Heights, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.0% across Maryland, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 625 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 19.6% of Potomac Heights households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Potomac Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Potomac Heights places 1,395th of 5,400 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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% | 1% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | New Market MD | 1,609 | $203K | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,393 | Rocksbury Township MN | 1,050 | $113K | 7.5% | 2.5% | 1% | B |
| 1,394 | Amanda Township OH | 1,048 | $99K | 7.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,395 | Potomac Heights MD | 1,351 | $72K | 9.5% | 5.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,396 | Summerdale AL | 1,724 | $70K | 3.8% | 0.4% | 4% | B |
| 1,397 | Apple Creek OH | 1,183 | $71K | 7.5% | 2.2% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Potomac Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
Next door to Potomac Heights
The biggest share goes to Indian Head (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Potomac Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potomac Heights | – | B | A− | 32 min | $71,786 |
| Indian Head | 3% | B+ | C+ | 45 min | $89,063 |
| Bryans Road | under 2% | A− | B+ | 45 min | $118,361 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Potomac Heights’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 Potomac Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Potomac Heights?
$71,786 (±$2,608) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Potomac Heights?
9.5%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Potomac Heights?
32 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Potomac Heights work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (11%, 22 mi), Waldorf (10%, 12 mi), La Plata (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Potomac Heights walkable?
Potomac Heights is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Potomac Heights without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Potomac Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Potomac Heights
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.