Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in St. James (1.4%) than in 91% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 9% of workers (Maryland 19%). St. James grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 2% stay in St. James for work; outside it, Hagerstown is the main destination (16%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: St. James in brief
St. James has added jobs fast
Jobs based in St. James went from 492 in 2013 to 935 in 2023, +90%. The jobs ↓
St. James and Hagerstown trade workers both ways
Hagerstown is the top workplace for St. James residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in St. James come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
St. James workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 31 across Maryland. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside St. James
61% of St. James residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 40% of the jobs based in St. James pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside St. James’ Jobs & income grade
Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. James could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
St. James makes things: 28% of its jobs are in goods
935 jobs are based in St. James.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. James, 2013 → 2023: 492 → 935. 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 St. James’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of St. James: the destinations
Where St. James clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from St. James takes about 38 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. James workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,027 commuters (the 9% 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.
In and out of St. James on a workday
On a workday 1,949 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 900 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in St. James on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.47 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from St. James
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.
Few in St. James walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. James is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #200 of 261 in Maryland. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of 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 2,218 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.3% of St. James households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of St. James’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, St. James is 361st of 3,753 U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Fulton MD | 5,677 | $222K | 0.7% | 1.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Riva MD | 4,976 | $176K | 1.1% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Brown Station MD | 3,451 | $169K | 3.3% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Niwot CO | 3,447 | $146K | 2.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| 360 | Logan Township IN | 3,943 | $119K | 6.0% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| 361 | St. James MD | 4,824 | $97K | 4.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| 362 | Covedale OH | 6,500 | $91K | 5.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A |
| 363 | Glenarden MD | 6,422 | $106K | 5.3% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 St. James, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
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 St. James: questions
What is the median household income in St. James?
$97,361 (±$18,115) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. James?
4.1%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. James?
38 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. James work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hagerstown (16%, 5 mi), Frederick (7%, 20 mi), Robinwood (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. James walkable?
St. James is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. James without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. James, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. James
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.