Work & commute · Wheaton

Work & commute in Wheaton, MD

Most working residents leave Wheaton for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (21%), Rockville (8%) and Bethesda (7%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

744 of 20,625 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

32 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

20%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 19,881 Wheaton residents head out of town to work, 744 work right here, and 7,901 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wheaton.

19,881live here, work elsewhere

744live and work here

7,901work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Wheaton goes to work

Washington, DC10.3 mi away

21%4,341

Rockville5.7 mi away

8%1,626

Bethesda5.4 mi away

7%1,386

North Bethesda3.4 mi away

5%957

Wheaton (in town)right here

4%744

Silver Spring3.8 mi away

3%674

Gaithersburg10 mi away

3%570

Potomac7.7 mi away

3%557

Baltimore29.6 mi away

2%466

Arlington, VA12 mi away

2%359

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%8,945

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

How far

How far Wheaton commutes

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

58%

31%

58%Under 10 mi

31%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

3%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Wheaton is a commuter town

0.42jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.42 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Wheaton are

8,645 jobs are based in Wheaton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wheaton’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Wheaton

8,645 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month54%

Jobs Wheaton residents hold

20,625 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month64%

+3%

Jobs based in Wheaton, 2013 → 2023: 8,432 → 8,645. 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.