Johnson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Laurel has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
1,934 jobs are based in Laurel, and 4,390 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Laurel is better than 85% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (B). Home is the office for 24% of workers, next to 16% for Florida as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Laurel: the gist
Laurel has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Laurel went from 1,154 in 2013 to 1,934 in 2023, +68%. The jobs ↓
Home offices are common in Laurel
24% of Laurel workers work from home, against 16% across Florida. Time on the road ↓
Laurel’s workforce skews older
37% of Laurel’s working residents are 55 or older. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Laurel’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment is its strongest input (1.6%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Laurel could be anywhere from B+ to A.
The kinds of work in Laurel
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laurel, 2013 → 2023: 1,154 → 1,934. 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 Laurel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Laurel: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laurel workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,519 commuters (the 24% 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.
Who commutes out of Laurel, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,113 residents head out to work, 277 work right here, and 1,657 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,300 people are in Laurel on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
12% of working residents work in Sarasota
Where Laurel clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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.
How far Laurel’s workers travel
About 28% 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.
Getting around Laurel: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 4,614 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 62% 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 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% 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). 3.3% of Laurel households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Laurel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, Laurel ranks 642nd of 2,695 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 255 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 326 | Asbury Lake FL | 14,458 | $101K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 640 | Highgrove CA | 8,366 | $114K | 8.5% | 3.4% | 1% | A |
| 641 | Sioux Center IA | 8,864 | $93K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 50% | A |
| 642 | Laurel FL | 11,741 | $92K | 5.6% | 1.6% | 6% | A− |
| 643 | Countryside VA | 9,661 | $149K | 4.8% | 5.8% | 1% | A− |
| 644 | Downingtown PA | 8,384 | $96K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Laurel, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Laurel and its neighbors: 11% work next door
The biggest share goes to Venice (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Laurel’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 Laurel: questions
What is the median household income in Laurel?
$92,340 (±$8,705) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laurel?
5.6%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laurel?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laurel work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sarasota (12%, 14 mi), Venice (10%, 3 mi), South Sarasota (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Laurel walkable?
Laurel is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laurel without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laurel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laurel
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.