Earning a living in Carrollwood
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 6.0 in Tampa. Jobs and income earn Carrollwood B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Only 5% work in Carrollwood; the top destination outside it is Tampa (34%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Carrollwood apart on work
A lot of Carrollwood works one town over
39% of working residents work in a town that borders Carrollwood: Tampa (34%), Egypt Lake-Leto (3%) and Lake Magdalene (2%). Next door ↓
Carrollwood draws workers from far and wide
The 12,497 jobs in Carrollwood are filled from a wide area. Carrollwood’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 32%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Carrollwood
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carrollwood is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #184 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Carrollwood’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carrollwood could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Where Carrollwood’s working residents head each day
Where Carrollwood clocks in
34% of workers
5% 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.
How a workday changes Carrollwood
On a workday 15,725 residents head out to work, 814 work right here, and 11,683 people come in from elsewhere.
About 33,000 people are in Carrollwood on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What the 12,497 jobs in Carrollwood are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carrollwood, 2014 → 2024: 11,439 → 12,497. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Carrollwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Carrollwood takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carrollwood workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,420 commuters (the 23% 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.
Carrollwood’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Carrollwood is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carrollwood is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #236 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% 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 18,618 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 46% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% 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). 3.5% of Carrollwood households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Carrollwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carrollwood places 575th of 1,162 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 26,000 to 50,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Parkland FL | 39,186 | $199K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Fruit Cove FL | 35,877 | $142K | 2.7% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Lutz FL | 27,106 | $120K | 6.1% | 2.6% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 573 | Delhi Township OH | 28,968 | $91K | 8.5% | 4.2% | 6% | B+ |
| 574 | Tamiami FL | 49,752 | $78K | 11.6% | 3.4% | 5% | B+ |
| 575 | Carrollwood FL | 36,725 | $82K | 8.4% | 4.5% | 5% | B+ |
| 576 | Newnan GA | 45,867 | $82K | 8.6% | 3.4% | 13% | B+ |
| 577 | Huber Heights OH | 43,905 | $79K | 9.6% | 3.4% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,162 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Carrollwood, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work next door: 39% of Carrollwood’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carrollwood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrollwood | – | B+ | A− | 27 min | $81,959 |
| Lake Magdalene | 2% | B | B | 27 min | $75,594 |
| Tampa | 34% | B− | A | 25 min | $75,475 |
| Citrus Park | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 30 min | $93,457 |
| Egypt Lake-Leto | 3% | C | A | 27 min | $54,032 |
| Northdale | under 2% | A− | C+ | 31 min | $94,926 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Tampa. Darker towns draw more of Carrollwood’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 2024, 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 Carrollwood: questions
What is the median household income in Carrollwood?
$81,959 (±$7,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carrollwood?
8.4%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carrollwood?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carrollwood work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tampa (34%, 7 mi), Town 'n' Country (5%, 5 mi), East Lake-Orient Park (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Carrollwood walkable?
Carrollwood is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carrollwood without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carrollwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carrollwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.