Harlem Heights’ household incomes are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 6.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 4.1 in Fort Myers. Below the poverty line: 4.9% of residents, next to 12.6% for Florida as a whole. The two grades for Harlem Heights are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Harlem Heights at work: what stands out
Harlem Heights makes and builds things
58% of the jobs based in Harlem Heights are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Harlem Heights residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 9%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Harlem Heights pay better than its residents’ jobs
71% of the jobs based in Harlem Heights pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 44% of the jobs Harlem Heights residents hold. 98% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Harlem Heights. The jobs ↓
Harlem Heights has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Harlem Heights went from 575 in 2013 to 969 in 2023, +69%. The jobs ↓
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; with 865 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Harlem Heights gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Harlem Heights is better than 59% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Harlem Heights’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,014, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (7.6%) is left out: Harlem Heights’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harlem Heights could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Making and building: 58% of jobs based in Harlem Heights
969 jobs are based in Harlem Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harlem Heights, 2013 → 2023: 575 → 969. 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 Harlem Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Harlem Heights
On a workday 845 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 949 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.12 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in Fort Myers
Where Harlem Heights clocks in
14% of workers
6% 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Harlem Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harlem Heights workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 717 commuters (the 4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Harlem Heights
About 30% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Harlem Heights
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harlem Heights is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across Florida, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 749 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 6.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 89% 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). 36.5% of Harlem Heights households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harlem Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Harlem Heights ranks: 961st of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Fisher Island FL | 1,026 | $250K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Golden Beach FL | 1,029 | $236K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 211 | Yalaha FL | 1,404 | $121K | 0.0% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 959 | Temple NH | 1,410 | $94K | 9.4% | 2.5% | 3% | B |
| 960 | Center Township OH | 1,067 | $89K | 4.0% | 0.5% | 3% | B |
| 961 | Harlem Heights FL | 1,122 | $57K | 4.9% | 7.6% | 2% | B |
| 962 | Riner VA | 1,038 | $106K | 9.8% | 0.0% | 2% | B |
| 963 | New Berlin IL | 1,361 | $70K | 6.4% | 5.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Harlem Heights, 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 Harlem Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Harlem Heights?
$57,014 (±$18,944) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harlem Heights?
4.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harlem Heights?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harlem Heights work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Myers (14%, 9 mi), Cape Coral (6%, 10 mi), Iona (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harlem Heights walkable?
Harlem Heights is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harlem Heights without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 36% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harlem Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harlem Heights
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.