Photo: Discoveropalocka26 · CC BY-SA 4.0Opa-locka’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
For 7% of workers, the job is at home, where Florida as a whole has 16%. 29.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.6% across Florida. The two grades for Opa-locka are C for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Opa-locka and work: the main findings
Opa-locka trades workers with the towns around it
Opa-locka has about as many jobs (6,468) as working residents (6,109), but they are mostly different people: 5,926 residents leave for work each day while 6,285 people come in. Only 3% of the jobs in Opa-locka are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Opa-locka’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 32 minutes, longer than the Florida average of 28. Time on the road ↓
Most Opa-locka residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Opa-locka workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Opa-locka’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Opa-locka makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Opa-locka are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Opa-locka residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 13%. 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.
Where Opa-locka’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Opa-locka is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #468 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Opa-locka’s grade up (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,532, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Opa-locka could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Who commutes out of Opa-locka, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,926 residents head out to work, 183 work right here, and 6,285 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 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.
Each way, about 32 minutes from Opa-locka
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Opa-locka workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,108 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Opa-locka
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.
Goods jobs make up 36% of work in Opa-locka
6,468 jobs are based in Opa-locka.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Opa-locka, 2013 → 2023: 5,546 → 6,468. 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 Opa-locka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
18% of working residents work in Miami
Where Opa-locka clocks in
18% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Opa-locka is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,563 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, 54% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 18.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 18.6% of Opa-locka households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Opa-locka’s commuters take a bus or train.
Opa-locka is 1,704th of 2,220 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,702 | Dentsville SC | 15,209 | $45K | 15.7% | 5.0% | 4% | C |
| 1,703 | Highland Springs VA | 14,296 | $58K | 19.0% | 5.6% | 2% | C |
| 1,704 | Opa-locka FL | 16,177 | $38K | 29.7% | 4.1% | 3% | C |
| 1,705 | Killingly CT | 18,177 | $84K | 11.4% | 10.3% | 23% | C |
| 1,706 | Spanish Lake MO | 17,873 | $56K | 14.8% | 7.2% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Opa-locka, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Bordering towns draw 12% of Opa-locka’s workers
The biggest share goes to Hialeah (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Opa-locka workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opa-locka | – | C | A+ | 32 min | $37,532 |
| Westview | under 3% | B− | A | 34 min | $57,563 |
| Biscayne Gardens | under 3% | C | A | 30 min | $55,165 |
| Hialeah | 6% | B− | A | 29 min | $55,594 |
| Miami Gardens | 6% | C+ | A | 32 min | $63,627 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Opa-locka’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 Opa-locka: questions
What is the median household income in Opa-locka?
$37,532 (±$7,256) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Opa-locka?
29.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Opa-locka?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Opa-locka work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Miami (18%, 9 mi), Miami Gardens (6%, 3 mi), Hialeah (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Opa-locka walkable?
Opa-locka is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.7 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Opa-locka without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. 54% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Opa-locka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Opa-locka
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.