Work & commute · Greenbelt

Work & commute in Greenbelt, MD

Most working residents leave Greenbelt for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (23%), College Park (4%) and Baltimore (3%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

446 of 10,038 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

34 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

17%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 9,592 Greenbelt residents head out of town to work, 446 work right here, and 11,904 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Greenbelt.

9,592live here, work elsewhere

446live and work here

11,904work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Greenbelt goes to work

Washington, DC9.4 mi away

23%2,298

Greenbelt (in town)right here

4%446

College Park2.7 mi away

4%417

Baltimore25.7 mi away

3%332

Beltsville3.6 mi away

2%247

Bethesda12.5 mi away

2%237

Rockville15.7 mi away

2%234

Columbia14.3 mi away

2%231

Silver Spring7.3 mi away

2%194

Arlington, VA14.1 mi away

2%184

Everywhere elseother towns and states

52%5,218

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Greenbelt commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

50%

39%

50%Under 10 mi

39%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

3%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Greenbelt is balanced between jobs and homes

1.23jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Greenbelt are

12,350 jobs are based in Greenbelt. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Greenbelt’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Greenbelt

12,350 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities11%

Services (health, schools, offices…)85%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month70%

Jobs Greenbelt residents hold

10,038 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)78%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month67%

−4%

Jobs based in Greenbelt, 2013 → 2023: 12,889 → 12,350. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.