Photo: DanTD · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have unemployment as high as Moon Lake’s 16.7%
Moon Lake grades D for jobs and income and A for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 6.0 in Tampa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Moon Lake, in brief
Moon Lake makes and builds things
83% of the jobs based in Moon Lake are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Moon Lake residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Moon Lake pay better than its residents’ jobs
71% of the jobs based in Moon Lake pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 54% of the jobs Moon Lake residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Moon Lake. The jobs ↓
Moon Lake’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Moon Lake is Tampa, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (244) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Why Moon Lake gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Moon Lake is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #614 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Moon Lake’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Moon Lake could be anywhere from D to B−.
Moon Lake makes things: 83% of its jobs are in goods
743 jobs are based in Moon Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moon Lake, 2013 → 2023: 168 → 743. 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 Moon Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Moon Lake
About 19% 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.
How a workday changes Moon Lake
On a workday 2,122 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 710 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Moon Lake on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.34 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.
11% of working residents work in Tampa
Where Moon Lake clocks in
11% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
Commuting from Moon Lake: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moon Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,578 commuters (the 9% 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.
Moon Lake is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moon Lake is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #117 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Moon Lake 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 1,742 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% 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). 14.8% of Moon Lake households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Moon Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Moon Lake compares with U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,712 | Mount Olive NC | 4,521 | $49K | 17.7% | 9.8% | 14% | D |
| 3,713 | Avenue B and C AZ | 4,001 | $44K | 19.7% | 19.9% | 1% | D |
| 3,714 | Moon Lake FL | 4,638 | $49K | 31.1% | 16.7% | 2% | D |
| 3,715 | Crossett AR | 4,454 | $45K | 22.0% | 5.3% | 46% | D |
| 3,716 | Orofino ID | 3,259 | $53K | 13.6% | 6.5% | 42% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,009 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Moon Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Work in the towns next to Moon Lake
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Moon Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moon Lake | – | D | A | 29 min | $48,878 |
| River Ridge | under 2% | B | B+ | 32 min | $102,798 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Moon Lake’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 Moon Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Moon Lake?
$48,878 (±$20,057) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moon Lake?
31.1%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moon Lake?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Moon Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tampa (11%, 24 mi), New Port Richey (3%, 8 mi), St. Petersburg (3%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moon Lake walkable?
Moon Lake is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moon Lake without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moon Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moon Lake
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.