Columbia

City Commute Profile

Columbia, MD

Where Columbia’s 50,782 resident workers go each day — 17.6% work within the area; the top destination beyond it is Baltimore.

MarylandLODES 2023 data
49
Commute Score

49 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Columbia at a glance
Employed Residents
50,782
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
14.7mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
17.6%
Share working within the area
Work from home
24.8%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Baltimore
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Columbia proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Columbia commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

Columbia

50,782 commutes, one dot at a time

Columbia

Where 50,782 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Columbia, by worker count.

1Columbia0.0 mi8,920
2Baltimore14.7 mi5,845
3Washington21.7 mi2,592
4Ellicott City5.2 mi1,757
5Fulton4.3 mi1,736
6Bethesda20.4 mi942
7Rockville17.9 mi880
8Linthicum10.6 mi693

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Columbia.

1Columbia0.0 mi8,920
2Baltimore14.7 mi6,033
3Ellicott City5.2 mi4,516
4Ilchester4.0 mi1,923
5Severn9.2 mi1,655
6Glen Burnie13.2 mi1,474
7Elkridge5.6 mi1,440
8Eldersburg14.8 mi1,225

Top industries

The sectors that employ Columbia’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services21.0%
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance12.5%
RTRetail Trade10.2%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services9.6%
EDEducational Services8.7%
AFAccommodation and Food Services7.0%
WSWholesale Trade6.1%
MGManagement of Companies and Enterprises4.1%
FIFinance and Insurance3.8%

Columbia city profile

Who lives in Columbia — population, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
104,338
Median age
39.4yrs
Median household income
$131,490
Median home value
$497,400
Median gross rent
$2,042/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
63.6%
Poverty rate
7.5%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Connectivity

Internet options for Columbia

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

2 providers · 1 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps100%
5 Gbps
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Columbia

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).