20742College Park, Maryland

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 20742.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
ClimateTop 42% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured72
Physical resilienceTop 29% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured76
Access3807th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured91
Economic stability6381st of 6,742 ZIP areas measured26
The quick read

A typical July reaches 90°F and a typical January falls to 30°F, on thirty-year normals.

Natural-hazard exposure sits in the middle range of published ZIP profiles, with hurricane, earthquake and cold wave the hazards that carry it.

A major airport is 19 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
4,350
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
Density
13,509/sq mi
0.3 sq mi of land
Median age
19.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
College Park
Maryland
Metro area
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Nearest major airport
BWI
19 mi · Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall
Median home value

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.6% is lower than 13% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 15,109 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Per capita income ±$809$2,905Bottom 1%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate100.0%Top 1%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute15.5 minBottom 5%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,109Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-5.4%Bottom 3%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.0%Bottom 10%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force16,004Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation23.2%Bottom 2%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$91,930Top 5%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$71,060Top 6%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 18%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate5.6%Top 13%of 6,544June 2026
Largest occupations — Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers112,530$156,460
Business Operations Specialists, All Other76,600$104,770
Software Developers69,060$154,930
Retail Salespersons66,920$36,610
Management Analysts62,360$126,830
Fast Food and Counter Workers60,560$34,600

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for College Park, MD, the city containing this ZIP code.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.8 inches, including 13.7 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WASHINGTON REAGAN AP, 11.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index63.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall13.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10032024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
63
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

76 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and cold wave.

EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, heat wave, strong wind, tornado, inland flooding, hail, ice storm, coastal flooding, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Prince George's County records 8.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 9.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.9 per 100,000 residents in Prince George's County.

Homicide
8.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
9.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
5.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Prince George's County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 20742 rather than 20742 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 19 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI19 mi10,503 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD28 mi11,500 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT83 mi10,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

20742 vs College Park

How this ZIP area compares with College Park as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

20742
College Park
Per capita income
$2,905
vs
$26,314
Population density
13,509/sq mi
vs
6,149/sq mi
Homeownership rate
0.0%
vs
34.0%
Poverty rate
100.0%
vs
33.2%
Median age
19.0
vs
21.5

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.