Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Belle Glade earn less than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 27.3% of residents (Florida 12.6%). Jobs and income earn Belle Glade D−; getting around on foot earns it A. Home is the office for 2% of workers (Florida 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Belle Glade: the gist
Belle Glade’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Belle Glade is West Palm Beach, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (534) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
No single place dominates Belle Glade’s commute
The biggest draw, West Palm Beach, gets only 8% of working residents, and 55% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Belle Glade residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Few Belle Glade workers work from home
Only 2% 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.
Inside Belle Glade’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Belle Glade is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #633 of 638 in Florida. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Belle Glade’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Belle Glade could be anywhere from D− to D.
How far it is to work from Belle Glade
About 22% 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.
8% of working residents work in West Palm Beach
Where Belle Glade clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
Commuting from Belle Glade: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Belle Glade workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,522 commuters (the 2% 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.
Who commutes out of Belle Glade, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,620 residents head out to work, 983 work right here, and 3,606 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Belle Glade on a workday afternoon, 12% 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.
Jobs in Belle Glade: what the 4,589 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Belle Glade, 2013 → 2023: 3,666 → 4,589. 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 Belle Glade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Belle Glade is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Belle Glade is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #92 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Belle Glade 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 6,624 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 49% 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). 17.1% of Belle Glade households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Belle Glade’s commuters take a bus or train.
Belle Glade and other U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,990 | Laurinburg NC | 14,582 | $42K | 31.1% | 11.0% | 21% | D− |
| 1,991 | California City CA | 13,300 | $60K | 22.8% | 18.7% | 14% | D− |
| 1,992 | Belle Glade FL | 17,241 | $48K | 27.3% | 9.7% | 15% | D− |
| 1,993 | Selma AL | 16,077 | $33K | 30.8% | 14.0% | 33% | D− |
| 1,994 | Mendota CA | 12,778 | $50K | 27.5% | 11.5% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Belle Glade, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
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 Belle Glade: questions
What is the median household income in Belle Glade?
$48,001 (±$9,005) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Belle Glade?
27.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Belle Glade?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Belle Glade work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Palm Beach (8%, 34 mi), Palm Springs (7%, 35 mi), South Bay (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Belle Glade walkable?
Belle Glade is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Belle Glade without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 49% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Belle Glade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Belle Glade
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.