Photo: Indietop20 at English Wikipedia · Public domainFort Meade’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 13% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #604 of 638 in Florida.
Walkability B: more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns · #414 of 638 in Florida.
Working residents average 40 minutes each way (Florida 28, U.S. 26). Only 6% work in Fort Meade; the top destination outside it is Bartow (15%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Fort Meade
Fort Meade workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 28 across Florida. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fort Meade makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Fort Meade are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fort Meade residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
Fort Meade empties out on a workday
About 3,700 people are in Fort Meade on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than the 5,400 who live here: 2,300 head out to work and 610 come in. Day and night ↓
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.
What’s behind Fort Meade’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Meade is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #604 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Fort Meade’s grade up (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,657, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Meade could be anywhere from D to C.
About 40 minutes each way, longer than most of Florida
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Meade workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,735 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Fort Meade makes things: 40% of its jobs are in goods
775 jobs are based in Fort Meade. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Meade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Meade, 2013 → 2023: 897 → 775. 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.
Fort Meade quiets down on a workday
On a workday 2,338 residents head out to work, 161 work right here, and 614 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Fort Meade on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.31 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.
15% of working residents work in Bartow
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Fort Meade clocks in
15% of workers
10% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Fort Meade commutes less than 21 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
Most trips from Fort Meade start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Meade is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #414 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 1,924 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 0.0 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). 13.8% of Fort Meade households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Meade’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fort Meade is 3,184th of 3,541 U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Fort Meade, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Vineyards FL | 3,849 | $131K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,182 | Sebring OH | 4,065 | $50K | 20.3% | 12.2% | 15% | D |
| 3,183 | Stanley WI | 3,876 | $48K | 20.0% | 5.0% | 10% | D |
| 3,184 | Fort Meade FL | 5,379 | $37K | 21.9% | 5.3% | 6% | D |
| 3,185 | Summerville GA | 4,440 | $33K | 25.5% | 3.9% | 11% | D |
| 3,186 | McCall ID | 4,133 | $60K | 16.0% | 5.4% | 51% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Fort Meade: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Meade?
$36,657 (±$8,377) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Meade?
21.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Meade?
40 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Meade work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bartow (15%, 8 mi), Lakeland (10%, 22 mi), Winter Haven (3%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Meade walkable?
Fort Meade is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Meade without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Meade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Meade
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.