Photo: Louisholstein · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.4%, unemployment in Mulberry is lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
Only 2% stay in Mulberry for work; outside it, Lakeland is the main destination (23%, 11 miles). The two grades for Mulberry are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Mulberry is behind 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Mulberry: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mulberry is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #362 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Mulberry’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (19.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mulberry could be anywhere from C to B+.
The daily flow of workers through Mulberry
On a workday 1,811 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 2,523 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Mulberry on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 per resident).
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 Mulberry’s working residents head each day
Where Mulberry clocks in
23% of workers
10% 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.
Goods, not services: 31% of the jobs in Mulberry
2,567 jobs are based in Mulberry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mulberry, 2013 → 2023: 2,164 → 2,567. 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 Mulberry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Mulberry takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mulberry workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,228 commuters (the 19% 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.
How far it is to work from Mulberry
About 20% 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.
The commute in Mulberry is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mulberry is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #326 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 1,510 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 47% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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 Mulberry households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mulberry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mulberry is 2,182nd of 3,938 U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,200 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,180 | Washington Township IN | 5,238 | $67K | 9.8% | 2.4% | 20% | B− |
| 2,181 | Manchester VT | 4,413 | $95K | 16.8% | 2.4% | 37% | B− |
| 2,182 | Mulberry FL | 4,573 | $58K | 19.8% | 1.4% | 2% | B− |
| 2,183 | Le Sueur MN | 4,210 | $79K | 12.7% | 4.0% | 27% | B− |
| 2,184 | Kochville Township MI | 5,166 | $42K | 38.6% | 4.1% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | 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 Mulberry, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to Mulberry
The biggest share goes to Lakeland Highlands (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mulberry workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulberry | – | B− | B+ | 28 min | $57,708 |
| Willow Oak | under 2% | C | D | 32 min | $65,688 |
| Fuller Heights | under 2% | B | C− | 26 min | $82,006 |
| Lakeland Highlands | 1% | A | B | 24 min | $108,263 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mulberry’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 Mulberry: questions
What is the median household income in Mulberry?
$57,708 (±$8,640) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mulberry?
19.8%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mulberry?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mulberry work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lakeland (23%, 11 mi), Bartow (10%, 10 mi), Tampa (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mulberry walkable?
Mulberry is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mulberry without a car?
0% 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 Mulberry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mulberry
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.