Big Pine Key has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The two grades for Big Pine Key are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. There are 815 jobs in Big Pine Key; 2,068 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Big Pine Key is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Big Pine Key: the figures worth knowing
Big Pine Key’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Big Pine Key is Key West, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (528) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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 ↓
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.
Big Pine Key’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Big Pine Key is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #282 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Big Pine Key’s grade up (1.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Big Pine Key could be anywhere from C to A−.
Miles to work from Big Pine Key
About 38% 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.
Big Pine Key quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,782 residents head out to work, 286 work right here, and 529 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Big Pine Key on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Key West
Where Big Pine Key clocks in
26% 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 Big Pine Key
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Big Pine Key, 2013 → 2023: 749 → 815. 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 Big Pine Key’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Big Pine Key takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Big Pine Key workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,786 commuters (the 15% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Big Pine Key
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,108 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 33% 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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). 3.4% of Big Pine Key households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Big Pine Key’s commuters take a bus or train.
Big Pine Key next to U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,700: 1,793rd of 3,962 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,791 | Walpole NH | 3,706 | $83K | 11.7% | 1.1% | 17% | B |
| 1,792 | Clearcreek Township OH | 4,165 | $98K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 3% | B |
| 1,793 | Big Pine Key FL | 4,258 | $110K | 10.7% | 1.9% | 14% | B |
| 1,794 | Marshall IL | 3,880 | $76K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 27% | B |
| 1,795 | Mound Township IL | 3,508 | $75K | 10.9% | 0.8% | 17% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,962 | 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 Big Pine Key, 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 Big Pine Key: questions
What is the median household income in Big Pine Key?
$110,134 (±$30,222) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Big Pine Key?
10.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Big Pine Key?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Big Pine Key work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Key West (26%, 27 mi), Marathon (7%, 21 mi), Cudjoe Key (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Big Pine Key walkable?
Big Pine Key is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Big Pine Key without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Big Pine Key, from the people who make the trip.
More of Big Pine Key
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.