With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Golden Gate works elsewhere
Only 5% work in Golden Gate itself; outside it, Naples draws the most (10%, 6 miles). 4,159 jobs are based in Golden Gate for 12,532 working residents. For jobs and income Golden Gate is better than 54% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Golden Gate at work: what stands out
Golden Gate has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Golden Gate went from 2,122 in 2013 to 4,159 in 2023, +96%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Golden Gate are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 38 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Golden Gate: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Golden Gate’s grade up (2.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Golden Gate could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
What Golden Gate’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Golden Gate, 2013 → 2023: 2,122 → 4,159. 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 Golden Gate’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Golden Gate
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Golden Gate workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,368 commuters (the 8% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Golden Gate
On a workday 11,862 residents head out to work, 670 work right here, and 3,489 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Golden Gate on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
Commuting out of Golden Gate: the destinations
Where Golden Gate clocks in
10% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
Miles to work from Golden Gate
About 23% 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.
Golden Gate is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 15,653 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). 6.8% of Golden Gate households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Golden Gate’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000, Golden Gate ranks 934th of 1,467 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Jacksonville Beach FL | 23,615 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Palmetto Bay FL | 24,886 | $142K | 5.8% | 2.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Keystone FL | 25,858 | $161K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 932 | Hazel Dell WA | 23,237 | $86K | 9.8% | 8.2% | 5% | B− |
| 933 | Brooklyn Center MN | 31,846 | $73K | 12.3% | 5.8% | 5% | B− |
| 934 | Golden Gate FL | 29,234 | $68K | 15.1% | 2.8% | 5% | B− |
| 935 | McDonough GA | 33,395 | $75K | 10.6% | 5.5% | 7% | B− |
| 936 | Garden City KS | 27,402 | $73K | 11.0% | 2.7% | 45% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Golden Gate, 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 Golden Gate: questions
What is the median household income in Golden Gate?
$68,475 (±$6,839) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Golden Gate?
15.1%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Golden Gate?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Golden Gate work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Naples (10%, 6 mi), Bonita Springs (3%, 13 mi), Fort Myers (2%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Golden Gate walkable?
Golden Gate is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Golden Gate without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Golden Gate, from the people who make the trip.
More of Golden Gate
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.