Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery · Photo: Daniel Di Palma · CC BY-SA 4.0Brownsville has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, next to 16% for Florida as a whole. Poverty touches 26.2% of residents; Florida has 12.6%. Brownsville grades C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Brownsville
A lot of Brownsville works one town over
34% of working residents work in a town that borders Brownsville: Miami (28%) and Hialeah (6%). Next door ↓
Most Brownsville residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Brownsville’s working residents have a job less than 6 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 31 minutes, longer than the Florida average of 28. Time on the road ↓
The jobs in Brownsville pay better than its residents’ jobs
58% of the jobs based in Brownsville pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 43% of the jobs Brownsville residents hold. 97% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Brownsville. The jobs ↓
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 Brownsville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brownsville is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #554 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Brownsville’s grade up (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,795, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brownsville could be anywhere from C− to C.
Half of Brownsville commutes less than 6 miles
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.
Brownsville’s commute takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brownsville workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,712 commuters (the 6% 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.
What work there is in Brownsville: 4,881 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brownsville, 2013 → 2023: 3,999 → 4,881. 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 Brownsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Brownsville by day
On a workday 6,412 residents head out to work, 128 work right here, and 4,753 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Brownsville on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.75 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.
28% of working residents work in Miami
Where Brownsville clocks in
28% of workers
6% 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.
Brownsville is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,176 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 82% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 23.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 16.9% of Brownsville households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 12% of Brownsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Brownsville is 1,721st among 1,999 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,719 | Show Low AZ | 12,471 | $60K | 12.2% | 4.7% | 39% | C− |
| 1,720 | Dixon IL | 14,582 | $59K | 17.8% | 5.2% | 28% | C− |
| 1,721 | Brownsville FL | 16,936 | $41K | 26.2% | 7.5% | 2% | C− |
| 1,722 | Warrington FL | 15,918 | $62K | 22.5% | 6.3% | 4% | C− |
| 1,723 | Coolbaugh Township PA | 20,681 | $83K | 16.2% | 11.6% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Brownsville, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
34% of Brownsville works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Miami (28%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brownsville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville | – | C− | A+ | 31 min | $40,795 |
| Hialeah | 6% | B− | A | 29 min | $55,594 |
| Miami | 28% | C+ | A+ | 27 min | $62,462 |
| Gladeview | under 2% | C | A+ | 28 min | $47,469 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brownsville’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 Brownsville: questions
What is the median household income in Brownsville?
$40,795 (±$5,296) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brownsville?
26.2%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brownsville?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brownsville work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Miami (28%, 4 mi), Hialeah (6%, 5 mi), Miami Beach (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brownsville walkable?
Brownsville is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.7 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brownsville without a car?
12% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 82% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brownsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brownsville
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.