Households in Fern Park earn less than those in 75% of U.S. towns
Fern Park grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The poverty rate is 12.5%, next to 12.6% for Florida as a whole. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 8.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 8.0 in Orlando.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Fern Park stands out on work
How Fern Park earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fern Park is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #285 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Fern Park’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($59,428, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fern Park could be anywhere from C to A−.
What Fern Park’s employers do
2,677 jobs are based in Fern Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fern Park, 2013 → 2023: 2,082 → 2,677. 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 Fern Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Fern Park
On a workday 3,909 residents head out to work, 65 work right here, and 2,612 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,700 people are in Fern Park on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
20% of working residents work in Orlando
Where Fern Park clocks in
20% of workers
5% 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.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Fern Park
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fern Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,737 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.
The distance from Fern Park to work
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Fern Park is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fern Park is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #225 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 4,428 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 52% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 92% 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). 5.5% of Fern Park households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fern Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,573rd of 3,015: where Fern Park ranks among U.S. towns of 5,600 to 10,800
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 342 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,571 | Holly MI | 5,906 | $64K | 8.5% | 4.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,572 | Laurel MT | 7,205 | $68K | 10.0% | 2.4% | 18% | B |
| 1,573 | Fern Park FL | 7,981 | $59K | 12.5% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,574 | Denham Springs LA | 9,378 | $72K | 6.0% | 7.4% | 8% | B |
| 1,575 | Palmerton PA | 5,615 | $68K | 15.9% | 1.8% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,015 | 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 Fern Park, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work next door: 12% of Fern Park’s workers
The biggest share goes to Maitland (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fern Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fern Park | – | B | A− | 25 min | $59,428 |
| Casselberry | 3% | B | A− | 28 min | $62,447 |
| Altamonte Springs | 4% | B− | A− | 26 min | $64,070 |
| Maitland | 5% | B+ | B | 23 min | $97,150 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fern Park’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 Fern Park: questions
What is the median household income in Fern Park?
$59,428 (±$7,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fern Park?
12.5%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fern Park?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fern Park work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orlando (20%, 12 mi), Maitland (5%, 2 mi), Winter Park (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fern Park walkable?
Fern Park is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fern Park without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fern Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fern Park
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.