Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Alva has some of the lowest unemployment in the country, with hardly anyone out of work
Only 7% stay in Alva for work; outside it, Fort Myers is the main destination (17%, 15 miles). Alva grades A− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 23% of workers, where Florida as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Alva apart on work
Alva makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Alva are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alva residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
Alva workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 28 across Florida. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
The figures behind Alva’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alva is better than 78% of U.S. towns, #113 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Alva’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 35% 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, Alva could be anywhere from B to A.
A place that makes things: 48% of Alva’s jobs are in goods
842 jobs are based in Alva.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alva, 2013 → 2023: 677 → 842. 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 Alva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Alva’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alva workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,119 commuters (the 23% 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.
Alva by day and by night
On a workday 1,140 residents head out to work, 80 work right here, and 762 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Alva on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.69 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 places Alva commutes to
Where Alva clocks in
17% of workers
5% 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.
Miles to work from Alva
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.
Few in Alva walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alva is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns, #629 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Alva 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 1,451 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). 0.0% of Alva households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alva’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Alva ranks: 876th of 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 874 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| 875 | Harrison Township IN | 3,531 | $83K | 6.7% | 1.4% | 7% | A− |
| 876 | Alva FL | 3,389 | $86K | 5.4% | 0.0% | 7% | A− |
| 877 | Chickamauga GA | 3,017 | $93K | 4.8% | 1.7% | 5% | A− |
| 878 | Eureka Township MI | 4,354 | $77K | 5.7% | 0.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Alva, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
How Alva compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lehigh Acres (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alva workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alva | – | A− | D | 35 min | $85,919 |
| Olga | under 2% | A− | C+ | 38 min | $93,576 |
| Lehigh Acres | 3% | C | C+ | 38 min | $66,890 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alva’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 Alva: questions
What is the median household income in Alva?
$85,919 (±$17,214) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alva?
5.4%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alva?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alva work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Myers (17%, 15 mi), Cape Coral (5%, 24 mi), Villas (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alva walkable?
Alva is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alva
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.