Families in Spencerville earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
Not counting college students, poverty touches 8.8% of residents, next to 9.1% for Maryland as a whole. Family incomes here are among the highest in the country. The two grades for Spencerville are A for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Spencerville, in brief
What’s behind Spencerville’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Spencerville is better than 94% of U.S. towns. Family income is its strongest input ($238,647, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
17% of Spencerville’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (17% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 8.8%, against 8.7% for all residents. Unemployment (0.0%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($238,647), since student households pull the household median down ($189,766).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Spencerville could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Each way, about 46 minutes from Spencerville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spencerville workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 483 commuters (the 22% 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 a workday changes Spencerville
On a workday 703 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 286 people come in from elsewhere.
About 610 people are in Spencerville on a workday afternoon, 41% fewer than live here.
0.41 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.
11% of working residents work in Washington
Where Spencerville clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Spencerville
289 jobs are based in Spencerville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spencerville, 2013 → 2023: 261 → 289. 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 Spencerville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Spencerville, by distance
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.
In Spencerville, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spencerville is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.0% across Maryland.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 617 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 9.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% 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 Spencerville households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spencerville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Spencerville comes 85th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Galesville MD | 1,062 | $205K | 2.7% | 6.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Libertytown MD | 1,346 | $114K | 1.0% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Roslyn Estates NY | 1,333 | $250K | 9.8% | 1.2% | 1% | A |
| 84 | Campbell Township IN | 1,172 | $122K | 0.0% | 7.1% | 1% | A |
| 85 | Spencerville MD | 1,028 | $190K | 8.7% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| 86 | Roslyn Harbor NY | 1,113 | $250K | 9.9% | 7.0% | <1% | A |
| 87 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Spencerville, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
How Spencerville compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Burtonsville (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spencerville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spencerville | – | A | C | 46 min | $189,766 |
| Ashton-Sandy Spring | under 3% | A+ | A | 36 min | $174,063 |
| Cloverly | under 3% | A− | A− | 35 min | $152,083 |
| Burtonsville | 3% | A− | A | 33 min | $134,276 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spencerville’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.
- Students. 17% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Spencerville: questions
What is the median household income in Spencerville?
$189,766 (±$110,786) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spencerville?
8.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 8.8%. Maryland: 9.4%.
How long is the commute from Spencerville?
46 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spencerville work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (11%, 15 mi), Rockville (6%, 10 mi), Bethesda (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spencerville walkable?
Spencerville is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spencerville without a car?
0% 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 Spencerville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spencerville
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.