Photo: Excel23 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lake City has 2.7 jobs for every working resident: 11,952 people commute in to work
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, against 16% across Florida. Employers in Lake City report 13,285 jobs, and 4,895 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Lake City are C for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lake City apart
Lake City is where the jobs are
Lake City has 13,285 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 21,000 people are in town, 66% more than the 13,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Lake City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake City is Jacksonville, 59 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (586) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Lake City draws workers from far and wide
The 13,285 jobs in Lake City are filled from a wide area. Lake City’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 77% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Lake City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake City is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #478 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Lake City’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (19.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake City could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Lake City nearly doubles on a workday
On a workday 3,562 residents head out to work and 1,333 work right here.
About 21,000 people are in Lake City on a workday afternoon, 66% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
How far Lake City’s workers travel
About 37% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Who travels to work in Lake City, and from where
Where Lake City clocks in
12% of workers
7% 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.
The kinds of work in Lake City
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake City, 2014 → 2024: 12,130 → 13,285. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Lake City’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake City workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,110 commuters (the 6% 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.
Getting around Lake City: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake City is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #390 of 638 in Florida. 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 5,440 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). 10.2% of Lake City households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lake City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lake City is 1,801st of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 288 | Asbury Lake FL | 14,458 | $101K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,799 | Shelby OH | 9,231 | $58K | 13.2% | 4.2% | 18% | C |
| 1,800 | Yeadon PA | 12,320 | $50K | 12.6% | 9.4% | 2% | C |
| 1,801 | Lake City FL | 12,788 | $56K | 19.8% | 2.5% | 27% | C |
| 1,802 | Franklin Township OH | 11,048 | $52K | 36.8% | 4.8% | 2% | C |
| 1,803 | West Perrine FL | 11,162 | $67K | 18.1% | 9.9% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Lake City, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work in the towns next to Lake City
The biggest share goes to Watertown (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake City | – | C | B | 24 min | $56,472 |
| Watertown | 1% | D | B | 18 min | $41,466 |
| Five Points | 1% | C | C− | 18 min | $63,207 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake City’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 2024, 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 Lake City: questions
What is the median household income in Lake City?
$56,472 (±$5,404) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake City?
19.8%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake City?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake City work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (12%, 59 mi), Gainesville (7%, 39 mi), Live Oak (2%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake City walkable?
Lake City is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake City without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.