Photo: CKColerEL · CC BY 3.0Eagle Lake has higher unemployment (8.8%) than 91% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Eagle Lake C+; getting around on foot earns it C−. Hardly any stay in Eagle Lake for work; outside it, Lakeland is the main destination (12%, 13 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 31 minutes, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Eagle Lake: the gist
What’s behind Eagle Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Eagle Lake is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #440 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Eagle Lake’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Eagle Lake could be anywhere from C− to A.
How a workday changes Eagle Lake
On a workday 1,474 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 275 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Eagle Lake on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.19 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.
The towns that employ Eagle Lake’s residents
Where Eagle Lake clocks in
12% of workers
11% of workers
10% 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.
Making and building: 31% of jobs based in Eagle Lake
286 jobs are based in Eagle Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eagle Lake, 2013 → 2023: 193 → 286. 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 Eagle Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Eagle Lake
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Eagle Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,395 commuters (the 16% 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.
How far Eagle Lake’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Getting around Eagle Lake: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Eagle Lake is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns, #593 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Eagle Lake near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,658 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 4.4% of Eagle Lake households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Eagle Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Eagle Lake is 2,259th of 3,306 U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,257 | Ira Township MI | 5,104 | $70K | 11.9% | 7.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,258 | Montrose VA | 8,285 | $50K | 19.9% | 4.2% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,259 | Eagle Lake FL | 6,415 | $71K | 9.5% | 8.8% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,260 | Salem IL | 7,035 | $60K | 16.3% | 2.4% | 36% | C+ |
| 2,261 | University Park IL | 7,019 | $74K | 14.4% | 15.9% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Eagle Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns next door employ 10% of Eagle Lake
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Eagle Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagle Lake | – | C+ | C− | 31 min | $70,523 |
| Wahneta | under 2% | D | D | 35 min | $46,598 |
| Winter Haven | 10% | C | B | 28 min | $59,648 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Winter Haven. Darker towns draw more of Eagle Lake’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 Eagle Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Eagle Lake?
$70,523 (±$10,649) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eagle Lake?
9.5%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eagle Lake?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eagle Lake work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lakeland (12%, 13 mi), Bartow (11%, 7 mi), Winter Haven (10%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Eagle Lake walkable?
Eagle Lake is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eagle Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Eagle Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eagle Lake
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.