Hull-Hawkins House · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0At 14.2%, unemployment in Live Oak is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
5% of workers work from home, next to 16% for Florida as a whole. The two grades for Live Oak are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Live Oak is behind 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Live Oak, in a few figures
Live Oak is where the jobs are
Live Oak has 4,953 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Live Oak’s commute
The biggest draw, Lake City, gets only 7% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Live Oak residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Live Oak are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Live Oak
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Live Oak is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #613 of 638 in Florida. Household income holds Live Oak’s grade up ($59,375, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Live Oak could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who leaves Live Oak for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,770 residents head out to work, 575 work right here, and 4,378 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,900 people are in Live Oak on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where the people who work in Live Oak live
Where Live Oak clocks in
7% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
About 21 minutes to work from Live Oak
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Live Oak workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,954 commuters (the 5% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Live Oak
About 38% 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.
Jobs in Live Oak: what the 4,953 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Live Oak, 2013 → 2023: 4,398 → 4,953. 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 Live Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Live Oak, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Live Oak is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #328 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Live Oak 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 3,115 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). 2.5% of Live Oak households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Live Oak’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,800, and where Live Oak sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,946 | Pearsall TX | 9,170 | $49K | 28.0% | 4.9% | 22% | D |
| 2,947 | Orosi CA | 8,966 | $55K | 22.0% | 17.6% | 10% | D |
| 2,948 | Live Oak FL | 7,248 | $59K | 16.3% | 14.2% | 25% | D |
| 2,949 | Blakely GA | 5,156 | $50K | 26.8% | 4.2% | 24% | D |
| 2,950 | Wayne NE | 6,338 | $54K | 19.9% | 6.5% | 51% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,122 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Live Oak, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
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 Live Oak: questions
What is the median household income in Live Oak?
$59,375 (±$9,248) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Live Oak?
16.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Live Oak?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Live Oak work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake City (7%, 22 mi), Gainesville (5%, 57 mi), Jacksonville (4%, 79 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Live Oak walkable?
Live Oak is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Live Oak without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Live Oak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Live Oak
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.