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ZIP Code21781

Saint James, MD

Washington County · Maryland · United States
Home to 34 people across 0.24 square miles.

Eastern23 ZIPs in county

At a glance

21781 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
34
±23 · bottom 10% nationally
Median household income
US median $70,109 ·
Median home value
US median $207,500 ·
Median age
18.8
US median 42 years
Population density
142/mi²
59th pctile most dense
Land area
0.24 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 21781 is

39.571253, -77.759805 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates39.571253, -77.759805
Time zoneAmerica/New_York
CountyWashington County
StateMaryland (MD)
Land area0.24 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/New_York

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Philadelphia, PA140.3 mi
New York, NY213.4 mi
Boston, MA399.0 mi
Chicago, IL540.5 mi

People

Who lives in 21781

34 residents in 0 households, averaging None people per household. The largest age group is 35-44 at 38.2% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 1835.3%
18-2426.5%
25-340.0%
35-4438.2%
45-540.0%
55-640.0%
65+0.0%

Households

Composition and size

Total households0
Average household sizeNone
Family householdsNone%
Living aloneNone%
Median age18.8 years

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White82.4%
Black5.9%
Asian8.8%
Two or more2.9%
Hispanic / Latino5.9%

Income & work

What people earn in 21781

Income data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income
Median household income±—
Per capita income$4,412
Poverty rate100.0%
Unemployment rate81.2%
Labor force participation47.1%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 0.0% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 0.0% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 21781

Housing cost data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built
Housing units0
Vacancy rateNone%

Own vs. rent

Of 0 occupied units

Owner-occupiedNone%
Renter-occupiedNone%
Owner households0
Renter households0

Building types

Units by structure size

Getting to work

How 21781 commutes

66.7% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 15.0 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone66.7%
Walked33.3%

Travel time

Mean commute 15.0 minutes

<10 min0.0%
10-19100.0%
20-290.0%
30-440.0%
45-590.0%
60+0.0%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 21781

ZIP code 21781 is assigned to Saint James, MD, and falls within Washington County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 34 people live inside it.

At 142 residents per square mile spread over 0.24 square miles, 21781 reads as a rural area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Living here

What life in Saint James looks like

The population skews notably young, with a median age of 18.8 against 42 nationally.

Getting to work takes 15.0 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 66.7% of workers, while 33.3% walk. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Saint James, MD

21781 covers a rural area, and accommodation within the postal code itself is likely to be sparse — perhaps a country inn, a lodge or a vacation rental rather than a conventional hotel. Widening the search radius is usually the practical approach, and it also opens up more availability at short notice.

For reference, Philadelphia, PA is about 140.3 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 21781 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 21781 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 21781 offers a compact profile of Saint James: 34 residents, 0.0% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 81.2%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 21781 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Saint James may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

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Questions

Common questions about 21781

What city is ZIP code 21781 in?
21781 serves Saint James, Maryland, in Washington County, United States.
What is the population of 21781?
About 34 people live in ZIP code 21781, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±23. That works out to roughly 142 people per square mile.
Is 21781 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 0.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 81.2%, and the median age is 18.8. The average commute is 15.0 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 21781 in?
21781 observes Eastern Time (America/New_York). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 21781?
ZIP code 21781 covers 0.24 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 21781 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 21781 reads as a rural area. It holds 142 people per square mile across 0.24 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 21781?
The average one-way commute from 21781 takes about 15.0 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 66.7% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 21781?
About 3 residents of 21781 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 47.1% and the unemployment rate is 81.2%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 21781?
Accommodation in and around Saint James, MD ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 21781 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Saint James as the primary place and Washington County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 21781 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 21781. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 21781, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.