Soderman Building · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Households in Miami have lower incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 26.4% of residents, next to 12.5% across Arizona. The two grades for Miami are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Home is the office for 7% of workers (Arizona 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Miami, in brief
Miami’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Miami is Phoenix, 71 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (107) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
57% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Miami makes and builds things
83% of the jobs based in Miami are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Miami residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 550 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Miami’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Miami is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Miami’s grade.
Unemployment (17.3%) is left out: Miami’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Miami could be anywhere from D− to D.
The distance from Miami to work
About 57% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Goods, not services: 83% of the jobs in Miami
744 jobs are based in Miami.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Miami, 2013 → 2023: 488 → 744. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Miami’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miami fills up on a workday
On a workday 525 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 719 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Miami on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Phoenix
Where Miami clocks in
19% of workers
17% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Arizona
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Miami workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 442 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Miami, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Miami is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 4.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 475 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.0% of Miami households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Miami’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Miami sits among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 784 | Fort Valley AZ | 1,761 | $126K | 5.2% | 0.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 889 | Mountainaire AZ | 1,103 | $112K | 5.2% | 5.7% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 982 | Centennial Park AZ | 1,839 | $168K | 3.5% | 2.5% | 31% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,289 | Georgiana AL | 1,274 | $24K | 24.1% | 9.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,290 | Akutan AK | 1,591 | $36K | 20.2% | 4.9% | — | D− |
| 5,291 | Miami AZ | 1,514 | $41K | 26.4% | 17.3% | 5% | D− |
| 5,292 | Olla LA | 1,325 | $30K | 26.8% | 11.7% | 6% | D− |
| 5,293 | Wendover UT | 1,135 | $44K | 26.0% | 2.7% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Miami, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
The towns around Miami
The biggest share goes to Claypool (6%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Miami’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Miami: questions
What is the median household income in Miami?
$40,875 (±$21,125) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Miami?
26.4%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Miami?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Miami work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (19%, 71 mi), Globe (17%, 8 mi), Tucson (6%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Miami walkable?
Miami is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Miami without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Miami, from the people who make the trip.
More of Miami
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.