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Work & commute in Railroad · A commuter town

100% of Railroad’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Railroad for work: only 0% work in town. The top destinations are Cockeysville (8%), Shrewsbury (6%) and Towson (4%). Half commute less than 25 miles.

Work in town
0%
0 of 90 working residents
Typical commute
25 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
28 min
More than PA (26 min)
Work from home
6%
Less than PA (16%)
Jobs based here
7
A commuter town
Work out of state
41%
mostly Maryland

What kind of work town is Railroad?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

8% of working residents work in Cockeysville

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

Baltimore: 3 residents work here (3%)RailroadGlen RockShrewsbury: 5 residents work here (6%)New Freedom: 2 residents work here (2%)York: 3 residents work here (3%)Lancaster: 2 residents work here (2%)East Hempfield: 2 residents work here (2%)East HopewellNorth HopewellYorkShrewsbury: 3 residents work here (3%)SpringfieldSpringettsbury: 3 residents work here (3%)Cockeysville: 7 residents work here (8%)Towson: 4 residents work here (4%)CockeysvilleShrewsburyTowsonBaltimoreYorkShrewsburyRailroad
1
Cockeysville, MD19.8 mi away
8%7
2
Shrewsbury1.2 mi away
6%5
3
Towson, MD25.6 mi away
4%4
4
Baltimore, MD32.1 mi away
3%3
5
York14.3 mi away
3%3
6
Shrewsbury1.5 mi away
3%3
7
Springettsbury15.9 mi away
3%3
8
New Freedom1.7 mi away
2%2
9
Lancaster28.6 mi away
2%2
10
East Hempfield27.8 mi away
2%2
Everywhere elseother towns and states
62%56
The top trips

Where Railroad clocks in

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

Day and night

Railroad quiets down on a workday

On a workday 90 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 7 people come in from elsewhere.

90live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
7work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night340
Workday250
340live here− 90head out to work+ 7come in to work= 250on a workday

About 250 people are in Railroad on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.08jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.08 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 Railroad commutes less than 25 miles

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

10 mi25 mi40 miCockeysville: 8% · 19.8 miShrewsbury: 6% · 1.2 miTowson: 4% · 25.6 miBaltimore: 3% · 32.1 miYork: 3% · 14.3 miShrewsbury: 3% · 1.5 miSpringettsbury: 3% · 15.9 miNew Freedom: 2% · 1.7 miLancaster: 2% · 28.6 miEast Hempfield: 2% · 27.8 miCockeysville 8%Shrewsbury 6%Towson 4%Baltimore 3%York 3%Railroad
RailroadTop destinations (size = commuters)
17%Under 10 mi14 residents
32%10–24 mi27 residents
36%25–50 mi30 residents
15%Over 50 mi13 residents

About 15% 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

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

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

Jobs based in RailroadJobs Railroad residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%20%
Trade, transport & utilities0%18%
Services: health, schools, offices100%62%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less14%19%
$1,251–$3,333 a month71%17%
Over $3,333 a month14%64%

Who does it

29 or younger43%23%
30 to 5457%50%
55 and older0%27%
−88%

Jobs based in Railroad, 2013 → 2023: 60 → 7. 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.

Time on the road

About 28 minutes each way, about the PA average

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

A year of commuting
212 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Railroad28 min
Pennsylvania26 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
6%

of Railroad workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Next door

Railroad and the towns next door

The biggest share goes to Shrewsbury (3%). Darker towns draw more of Railroad’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Railroad28 min
Shrewsbury31 min
New Freedom34 min
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 Railroad

Railroad home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Railroad, 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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