Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Jensen Beach has 0.9 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C+: better than 38% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #438 of 638 in Florida.
Walkability B: more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns · #369 of 638 in Florida.
Household incomes here are lower than in 57% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 28 minutes each way (Florida 28, U.S. 26). Only 8% work in Jensen Beach; the top destination outside it is Stuart (21%, 3 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 Jensen Beach
Jensen Beach trades workers with the towns around it
Jensen Beach has about as many jobs (4,579) as working residents (5,219), but they are mostly different people: 4,807 residents leave for work each day while 4,167 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Jensen Beach are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Jensen Beach has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Jensen Beach went from 2,814 in 2013 to 4,579 in 2023, +63%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Jensen Beach works one town over
27% of working residents work in a town that borders Jensen Beach: Stuart (21%) and Port St. Lucie (6%). Next door ↓
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.
What’s behind Jensen Beach’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jensen Beach is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #438 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Jensen Beach’s grade up (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jensen Beach could be anywhere from C− to B.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 4,807 residents head out to work, 412 work right here, and 4,167 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 (0.88 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.
What the 4,579 jobs in Jensen Beach are
4,579 jobs are based in Jensen Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Jensen Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jensen Beach, 2013 → 2023: 2,814 → 4,579. 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.
21% of working residents work in Stuart
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Jensen Beach clocks in
21% of workers
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 28 minutes each way, about the FL average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jensen Beach workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,297 commuters (the 18% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Jensen Beach commutes less than 12 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 Jensen Beach start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jensen Beach is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #369 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 5,250 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). 4.2% of Jensen Beach households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Jensen Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jensen Beach is 1,698th of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Jensen Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 288 | Asbury Lake FL | 14,458 | $101K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,696 | Arab AL | 9,061 | $64K | 13.3% | 3.2% | 17% | C+ |
| 1,697 | Laguna Woods CA | 16,844 | $59K | 14.2% | 7.3% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,698 | Jensen Beach FL | 12,531 | $71K | 16.7% | 4.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,699 | Lithia Springs GA | 16,875 | $62K | 16.1% | 6.6% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,700 | Kaneohe Base HI | 10,919 | $69K | 10.0% | 9.0% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | 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.
27% of Jensen Beach works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Stuart (21%). Darker towns draw more of Jensen Beach’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Jensen Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jensen Beach | – | C+ | B | 28 min | $70,884 |
| Ocean Breeze | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Rio | under 2% | B− | C+ | 15 min | $91,953 |
| Stuart | 21% | C− | A | 25 min | $60,225 |
| Sewall's Point | under 2% | A | C+ | 20 min | $129,000 |
| Port St. Lucie | 6% | B− | B− | 31 min | $80,648 |
Same-state neighbors only. Ocean Breeze: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Jensen Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Jensen Beach?
$70,884 (±$7,138) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jensen Beach?
16.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jensen Beach?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jensen Beach work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stuart (21%, 3 mi), Port St. Lucie (6%, 9 mi), Fort Pierce (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jensen Beach walkable?
Jensen Beach is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jensen Beach without a car?
1% 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 Jensen Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jensen 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.