Laurel is a medium-sized city located in the state of Maryland. With a population of 29,352 people and 24 associated neighborhoods, Laurel is the 38th largest community in Maryland.

Also of interest is that Laurel has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Laurel telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.70% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Laurel, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

One downside of living in Laurel is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Laurel, the average commute to work is 33.74 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Laurel is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking taxis. For Laurel, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

The education level of Laurel ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Laurel, 45.36% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.

The per capita income in Laurel in 2022 was $45,887, which is middle income relative to Maryland, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $183,548 for a family of four. However, Laurel contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Laurel is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Laurel home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Laurel residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Laurel also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.28% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Laurel include African, Jamaican, Irish, German, and Nigerian.

Laurel also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 28.95%.

The most common language spoken in Laurel is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.