Photo: DanTD · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Babson Park have lower incomes than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, against 16% across Florida. Poverty touches 14.4% of residents, against 12.6% across Florida. For jobs and income Babson Park is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Babson Park apart
Babson Park is a place people come home to
There are 83 jobs based in Babson Park, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Babson Park has about 590 people in it, 46% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Babson Park workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Florida. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 590 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Babson Park gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate holds Babson Park’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($48,177, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Babson Park’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, Babson Park could be anywhere from D− to C+.
A workday in Babson Park: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 585 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 78 people come in from elsewhere.
About 590 people are in Babson Park on a workday afternoon, 46% fewer than live here.
0.14 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.
About 25 minutes each way, quicker than most of Florida
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Babson Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 484 commuters (the 3% 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.
14% of working residents work in Lake Wales
Where Babson Park clocks in
14% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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.
The kinds of work in Babson Park
83 jobs are based in Babson Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Babson Park, 2013 → 2023: 206 → 83. 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 Babson Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Babson Park’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
The commute in Babson Park is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across Florida, 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 497 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). 14.1% of Babson Park households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Babson Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Babson Park is 2,990th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Fisher Island FL | 1,026 | $250K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Golden Beach FL | 1,029 | $236K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 211 | Yalaha FL | 1,404 | $121K | 0.0% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,988 | Redbank Township PA | 1,301 | $64K | 16.9% | 7.0% | 2% | D |
| 2,989 | Franklin WI | 1,132 | $75K | 23.8% | 3.7% | 5% | D |
| 2,990 | Babson Park FL | 1,093 | $48K | 14.4% | 0.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,991 | Ricardo TX | 1,132 | $70K | 40.1% | 0.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,992 | La Harpe IL | 1,124 | $49K | 12.9% | 1.0% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Babson Park, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Babson Park and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Frostproof (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Babson Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babson Park | – | D | B− | 25 min | $48,177 |
| Hillcrest Heights | under 1% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Frostproof | 1% | D | A− | 25 min | $42,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Hillcrest Heights: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Babson Park’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 Babson Park: questions
What is the median household income in Babson Park?
$48,177 (±$7,902) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Babson Park?
14.4%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Babson Park?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Babson Park work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Wales (14%, 7 mi), Bartow (10%, 18 mi), Winter Haven (7%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Babson Park walkable?
Babson Park is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Babson Park without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Babson Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Babson Park
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.