Photo: AirportExpert · CC BY-SA 4.0Hobe Sound has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Hobe Sound grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Employers in Hobe Sound report 2,893 jobs; 5,351 of its residents have a job. About one in ten work in Hobe Sound itself; outside it, Stuart draws the most (9%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Hobe Sound’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hobe Sound is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #528 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Hobe Sound’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.4%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hobe Sound could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Hobe Sound by day and by night
On a workday 4,862 residents head out to work, 489 work right here, and 2,404 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Hobe Sound on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Where the trip to work from Hobe Sound ends
Where Hobe Sound clocks in
9% of workers
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Hobe Sound
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hobe Sound, 2013 → 2023: 2,165 → 2,893. 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 Hobe Sound’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Hobe Sound: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hobe Sound workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,699 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Hobe Sound
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Hobe Sound gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hobe Sound is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #331 of 638 in Florida. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across Florida, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,664 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). 2.8% of Hobe Sound households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hobe Sound’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Hobe Sound is 1,821st 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,819 | Fairmont MN | 10,099 | $53K | 15.3% | 3.1% | 53% | C |
| 1,820 | Penn Forest Township PA | 10,434 | $67K | 10.6% | 9.0% | 6% | C |
| 1,821 | Hobe Sound FL | 13,817 | $63K | 15.7% | 6.4% | 9% | C |
| 1,822 | Defiance Township OH | 13,305 | $66K | 16.1% | 5.3% | 22% | C |
| 1,823 | Oskaloosa IA | 11,493 | $64K | 16.6% | 4.8% | 32% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Hobe Sound, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to Hobe Sound
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hobe Sound workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobe Sound | – | C | B+ | 29 min | $63,484 |
| Jupiter Island | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Jupiter Island: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hobe Sound’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 Hobe Sound: questions
What is the median household income in Hobe Sound?
$63,484 (±$6,149) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hobe Sound?
15.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hobe Sound?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hobe Sound work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stuart (9%, 10 mi), Jupiter (9%, 11 mi), Palm Beach Gardens (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hobe Sound walkable?
Hobe Sound is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hobe Sound without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hobe Sound, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hobe Sound
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.