Jacob and Hannah Leverton House · Public domainEarning a living in Preston
Only 2% stay in Preston for work; outside it, Easton is the main destination (17%, 10 miles). Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, next to 31 for Maryland and 26 for the U.S. Preston has 415 jobs, against 337 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Preston: the gist
75% of the jobs in Preston pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preston, 2013 → 2023: 310 → 415. 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 Preston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Preston, and who commutes in
On a workday 330 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 408 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Preston on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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.
Commuting out of Preston: the destinations
Where Preston clocks in
17% of workers
4% 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.
Commuting from Preston: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preston workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 370 commuters (the 16% 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.
How many miles Preston commutes
About 28% 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.
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 Preston: questions
What is the median household income in Preston?
$100,000 (±$28,387) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preston?
3.8%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preston?
27 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preston work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Easton (17%, 10 mi), Cambridge (6%, 14 mi), Baltimore (4%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Preston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Preston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preston
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.