Photo: Dswisener · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.4%, unemployment in Alachua is lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Florida 28, U.S. 26). The two grades for Alachua are B+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten stay in Alachua for work; outside it, Gainesville is the main destination (45%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Alachua, in brief
Much of Alachua works one town over
48% of working residents work in a town that borders Alachua: Gainesville (45%) and High Springs (3%). Next door ↓
Alachua is where the jobs are
Alachua has 8,612 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 15,000 people are in town, 41% more than the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Alachua draws workers from far and wide
The 8,612 jobs in Alachua are filled from a wide area. Alachua’s own residents hold 5% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Alachua has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Alachua went from 5,384 in 2013 to 8,612 in 2023, +60%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
40% of the jobs in Alachua are in trade, transport and utilities, against 17% of the jobs its residents hold. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Alachua gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alachua is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #178 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Alachua’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alachua could be anywhere from B− to A−.
How a workday changes Alachua
On a workday 3,878 residents head out to work, 424 work right here, and 8,188 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Alachua on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that send workers to Alachua
Where Alachua clocks in
45% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
What work there is in Alachua: 8,612 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alachua, 2013 → 2023: 5,384 → 8,612. 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 Alachua’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Alachua
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alachua workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,046 commuters (the 21% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Alachua
About 23% 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.
Most of Alachua commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alachua is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns, #554 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Alachua near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,120 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.4% of Alachua households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alachua’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alachua places 1,138th of 2,878 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 343 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,136 | Salisbury Township PA | 13,707 | $101K | 7.5% | 6.1% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,137 | Woodland Park CO | 8,014 | $99K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 22% | B+ |
| 1,138 | Alachua FL | 10,612 | $83K | 9.5% | 1.4% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,139 | Cortland OH | 7,024 | $72K | 9.8% | 1.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,140 | Richland Hills TX | 8,529 | $67K | 8.5% | 3.6% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Alachua, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work next door: 48% of Alachua’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alachua workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alachua | – | B+ | C | 24 min | $83,464 |
| High Springs | 3% | B | C− | 25 min | $94,421 |
| Gainesville | 45% | C | A+ | 19 min | $46,195 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Gainesville. Darker towns draw more of Alachua’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 Alachua: questions
What is the median household income in Alachua?
$83,464 (±$10,700) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alachua?
9.5%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alachua?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alachua work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (45%, 11 mi), Jacksonville (5%, 62 mi), High Springs (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alachua walkable?
Alachua is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alachua without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alachua, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alachua
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.