Photo: The Bushranger · CC BY-SA 4.0Cottondale has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
At 28 minutes each way, commutes from Cottondale run about the Florida average. There are 98 jobs in Cottondale; 344 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Cottondale; the top destination outside it is Marianna (22%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cottondale: the figures worth knowing
The workday shuffle in and out of Cottondale
On a workday 341 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 95 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Cottondale on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Where the trip to work from Cottondale ends
Where Cottondale clocks in
22% 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.
Goods, not services: 28% of the jobs in Cottondale
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cottondale, 2013 → 2023: 95 → 98. 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 Cottondale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes to work from Cottondale
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cottondale workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 266 commuters (the 12% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Cottondale
About 28% 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.
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 Cottondale: questions
What is the median household income in Cottondale?
$36,959 (±$16,252) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cottondale?
28.4%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cottondale?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cottondale work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marianna (22%, 8 mi), Chipley (7%, 10 mi), Panama City (7%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cottondale without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cottondale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cottondale
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.