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Work & commute in Mount Aetna · A commuter town

99% of Mount Aetna’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Mount Aetna for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Hagerstown (9%), Frederick (8%) and Ballenger Creek (4%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Work in town
1%
2 of 255 working residents
Typical commute
17 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
18 min
Less than MD (31 min)
Work from home
25%
More than MD (19%)
Jobs based here
83
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Mount Aetna?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

9% of working residents work in Hagerstown

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

WashingtonBoonsboroBrunswickGaithersburg: 3 residents work here (1%)Hagerstown: 23 residents work here (9%)Rockville: 5 residents work here (2%)Frederick: 21 residents work here (8%)Bowie: 4 residents work here (2%)AntrimMount AetnaCavetownRobinwood: 7 residents work here (3%)Fountainhead-Orchard Hills: 7 residents work here (3%)Halfway: 4 residents work here (2%)North Bethesda: 5 residents work here (2%)LinganoreBallenger Creek: 11 residents work here (4%)GermantownHagerstownFrederickBallenger CreekRobinwoodFountainhead-Orchard HillsRockvilleMount Aetna
1
Hagerstown6.5 mi away
9%23
2
Frederick15.4 mi away
8%21
3
Ballenger Creek18.2 mi away
4%11
4
Robinwood3.3 mi away
3%7
6
Rockville43.2 mi away
2%5
7
North Bethesda46.9 mi away
2%5
8
Bowie64.5 mi away
2%4
9
Halfway8.5 mi away
2%4
10
Gaithersburg38.3 mi away
1%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
65%165
The top trips

Where Mount Aetna clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Time on the road

About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maryland

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
136 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Mount Aetna18 min
Maryland31 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
25%

of Mount Aetna workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.

About 2 in 10
Day and night

Mount Aetna quiets down on a workday

On a workday 253 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 81 people come in from elsewhere.

253live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
81work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night640
Workday470
640live here− 250head out to work+ 81come in to work= 470on a workday

About 470 people are in Mount Aetna on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.33jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.33 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.

How far

Half of Mount Aetna commutes less than 17 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi75 miHagerstown: 9% · 6.5 miFrederick: 8% · 15.4 miBallenger Creek: 4% · 18.2 miRobinwood: 3% · 3.3 miFountainhead-Orchard Hills: 3% · 8.3 miRockville: 2% · 43.2 miNorth Bethesda: 2% · 46.9 miBowie: 2% · 64.5 miHalfway: 2% · 8.5 miGaithersburg: 1% · 38.3 miHagerstown 9%Frederick 8%Ballenger Creek 4%Robinwood 3%Fountainhead-Orchard Hills 3%Mount Aetna
Mount AetnaTop destinations (size = commuters)
37%Under 10 mi90 residents
24%10–24 mi59 residents
16%25–50 mi39 residents
23%Over 50 mi56 residents

About 23% 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.

The jobs

Mount Aetna makes things: 59% of its jobs are in goods

83 jobs are based in Mount Aetna. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mount Aetna’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Mount AetnaJobs Mount Aetna residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms59%15%
Trade, transport & utilities1%23%
Services: health, schools, offices40%62%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less12%15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month35%23%
Over $3,333 a month53%62%

Who does it

29 or younger18%22%
30 to 5453%50%
55 and older29%28%
+14%

Jobs based in Mount Aetna, 2013 → 2023: 73 → 83. 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.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Mount Aetna

Mount Aetna home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Mount Aetna, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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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.

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