African Queen · Photo: Elmschrat · CC BY-SA 3.0Key Largo has higher household incomes than 63% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.0 in Miami. Below the poverty line: 9.9% of residents; Florida has 12.6%. Jobs and income earn Key Largo C+; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Key Largo in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Key Largo
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Key Largo is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #404 of 638 in Florida. Household income holds Key Largo’s grade up ($85,778, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Key Largo could be anywhere from C− to B.
Half of Key Largo commutes less than 44 miles
About 41% 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.
Key Largo quiets down on a workday
On a workday 4,897 residents head out to work, 1,179 work right here, and 2,891 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Key Largo on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
9% of working residents work in Islamorada, Village of Islands
Where Key Largo clocks in
9% of workers
7% 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.
What Key Largo’s employers do
4,070 jobs are based in Key Largo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Key Largo, 2013 → 2023: 3,184 → 4,070. 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 Key Largo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Key Largo: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Key Largo workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,516 commuters (the 12% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Key Largo
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Key Largo is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #201 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Key Largo near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,237 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 5.0% of Key Largo households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Key Largo’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Key Largo ranks: 1,723rd of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 239 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,721 | Columbia PA | 10,314 | $54K | 21.4% | 3.2% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,722 | North College Hill OH | 9,544 | $65K | 20.6% | 4.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,723 | Key Largo FL | 13,026 | $86K | 9.9% | 3.8% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,724 | Boulder City NV | 14,884 | $75K | 11.4% | 7.6% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,725 | Greensburg PA | 14,462 | $65K | 14.4% | 5.0% | 14% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | 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 Key Largo, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
11% of Key Largo works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to North Key Largo (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Key Largo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key Largo | – | C+ | A− | 26 min | $85,778 |
| Tavernier | 4% | D | B− | 22 min | $50,256 |
| North Key Largo | 7% | C | A | 17 min | $149,605 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Key Largo’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 Key Largo: questions
What is the median household income in Key Largo?
$85,778 (±$5,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Key Largo?
9.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Key Largo?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Key Largo work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Islamorada, Village of Islands (9%, 12 mi), North Key Largo (7%, 11 mi), Key West (7%, 94 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Key Largo walkable?
Key Largo is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Key Largo without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Key Largo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Key Largo
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.