Richardson House · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Bradenton (6.3%) than in 77% of U.S. towns
Bradenton grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.0 in Miami. About one in five work in Bradenton itself; outside it, Sarasota draws the most (7%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bradenton, in a few figures
No single place dominates Bradenton’s commute
The biggest draw, Sarasota, gets only 7% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Bradenton residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Bradenton draws workers from far and wide
The 35,189 jobs in Bradenton are filled from a wide area. Bradenton’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Bradenton is where the jobs are
Bradenton has 35,189 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Bradenton’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bradenton is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #484 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Bradenton’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bradenton could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Commuting in to Bradenton: where workers come from
Where Bradenton clocks in
7% 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.
Who commutes out of Bradenton, and who commutes in
On a workday 18,429 residents head out to work, 4,193 work right here, and 30,996 people come in from elsewhere.
About 71,000 people are in Bradenton on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.6 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.
In Bradenton, services account for most jobs
35,189 jobs are based in Bradenton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bradenton, 2013 → 2023: 28,153 → 35,189. 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 Bradenton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Bradenton: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bradenton workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,962 commuters (the 11% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Bradenton
About 20% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Bradenton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bradenton is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #192 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.6% across Florida.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 23,647 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 6.7% of Bradenton households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Bradenton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bradenton next to U.S. towns of 41,000 to 78,000: 627th of 738 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Weston FL | 69,588 | $140K | 6.1% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 169 | Coral Gables FL | 49,578 | $134K | 9.4% | 3.6% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 625 | Vineland NJ | 62,703 | $68K | 14.6% | 7.8% | 39% | C |
| 626 | Huntington Park CA | 51,544 | $60K | 18.3% | 9.5% | 5% | C |
| 627 | Bradenton FL | 58,014 | $61K | 14.8% | 6.3% | 19% | C |
| 628 | Union City NJ | 66,656 | $64K | 23.1% | 9.4% | 12% | C |
| 629 | Middletown OH | 52,146 | $57K | 17.1% | 5.9% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 738 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Bradenton, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work in the towns next to Bradenton
The biggest share goes to South Bradenton (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bradenton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradenton | – | C | A− | 25 min | $60,822 |
| South Bradenton | 3% | C | A | 25 min | $48,315 |
| Samoset | under 2% | C− | A− | 25 min | $51,976 |
| West Bradenton | under 2% | A | A− | 23 min | $116,272 |
| Ellenton | under 2% | B | A | 30 min | $71,402 |
| West Samoset | under 2% | C | A | 25 min | $54,352 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bradenton’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 Bradenton: questions
What is the median household income in Bradenton?
$60,822 (±$2,904) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bradenton?
14.8%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bradenton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bradenton work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sarasota (7%, 11 mi), South Bradenton (3%, 2 mi), Tampa (3%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bradenton walkable?
Bradenton is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bradenton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bradenton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bradenton
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.