Hippard House · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Fernandina Beach have higher incomes than those in 75% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 11.3% of residents, where Florida as a whole has 12.6%. For jobs and income Fernandina Beach is better than 61% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B). About one in four stay in Fernandina Beach for work; outside it, Jacksonville is the main destination (23%, 25 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fernandina Beach: the figures worth knowing
Fernandina Beach’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fernandina Beach is Jacksonville, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (1,181) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fernandina Beach is where the jobs are
Fernandina Beach has 8,565 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Fernandina Beach’s workers comes from Jacksonville
1,018 of the people who work in Fernandina Beach live in Jacksonville, 25 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Fernandina Beach are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Fernandina Beach
Household income holds Fernandina Beach’s grade up ($97,903, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fernandina Beach could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The distance from Fernandina Beach to work
About 22% 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.
A workday in Fernandina Beach: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,630 residents head out to work, 1,488 work right here, and 7,077 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Fernandina Beach on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Commuting in to Fernandina Beach: where workers come from
Where Fernandina Beach clocks in
23% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
Fernandina Beach’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fernandina Beach workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,120 commuters (the 17% 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 the 8,565 jobs in Fernandina Beach are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fernandina Beach, 2013 → 2023: 7,302 → 8,565. 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 Fernandina Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Fernandina Beach commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 6,136 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.3% of Fernandina Beach households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fernandina Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fernandina Beach is 1,165th of 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,163 | Timberlake VA | 12,725 | $76K | 8.5% | 3.4% | 5% | B |
| 1,164 | White Center WA | 14,886 | $87K | 14.5% | 4.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,165 | Fernandina Beach FL | 13,869 | $98K | 11.3% | 2.7% | 29% | B |
| 1,166 | Groveland Township IL | 18,418 | $66K | 11.1% | 2.7% | 4% | B |
| 1,167 | Howland Township OH | 18,867 | $73K | 10.7% | 3.5% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | 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 Fernandina Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
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 Fernandina Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Fernandina Beach?
$97,903 (±$9,250) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fernandina Beach?
11.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fernandina Beach?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fernandina Beach work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (23%, 25 mi), Yulee (2%, 7 mi), Orlando (1%, 151 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fernandina Beach walkable?
Fernandina Beach is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fernandina Beach without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fernandina Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fernandina Beach
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.