Smith Island has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Commuters spend 14 minutes getting to work on average, where Maryland has 31 and the U.S. 26. 16 jobs are based in Smith Island; 58 of its residents have a job. Only 3% work in Smith Island itself; outside it, Salisbury draws the most (21%, 36 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Smith Island quiets down on a workday
On a workday 56 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 14 people come in from elsewhere.
About 300 people are in Smith Island on a workday afternoon, 12% 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.
Where people from Smith Island work
Where Smith Island clocks in
21% 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.
What Smith Island’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smith Island, 2013 → 2023: 166 → 16. 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 Smith Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Smith Island: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smith Island workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 114 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 distance from Smith Island to work
About 38% 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 Smith Island: questions
What is the median household income in Smith Island?
$90,385 (±$13,562) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smith Island?
9.6%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smith Island?
14 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smith Island work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salisbury (21%, 36 mi), Princess Anne (7%, 24 mi), Crisfield (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Smith Island without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Smith Island, from the people who make the trip.
More of Smith Island
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.