Larimer Memorial Library · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Palatka are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 37.3% of residents, against 12.6% across Florida. Jobs and income earn Palatka D−; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Palatka, in a few figures
Palatka’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Palatka is Jacksonville, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (414) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Palatka draws workers from far and wide
The 8,111 jobs in Palatka are filled from a wide area. Palatka’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 14%; the other 74% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Palatka is where the jobs are
Palatka has 8,111 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 Palatka’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Palatka is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #629 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Palatka’s grade up (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,021, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Palatka could be anywhere from D− to D.
Where in the region Palatka works
About 27% 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.
Where Palatka’s workers come from
Where Palatka clocks in
9% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
A workday in Palatka: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,440 residents head out to work, 971 work right here, and 7,140 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Palatka on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.8 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.
The kinds of work in Palatka
8,111 jobs are based in Palatka.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palatka, 2013 → 2023: 8,578 → 8,111. 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 Palatka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Palatka spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palatka workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,026 commuters (the 8% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Palatka
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palatka is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #194 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Palatka 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 3,284 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 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). 17.1% of Palatka households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Palatka’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, and where Palatka sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 301 | Asbury Lake FL | 14,458 | $101K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 322 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,488 | Cordele GA | 9,652 | $34K | 29.0% | 7.5% | 30% | D− |
| 2,489 | Hernando FL | 9,299 | $43K | 21.1% | 10.6% | 3% | D− |
| 2,490 | Palatka FL | 10,872 | $32K | 37.3% | 9.3% | 22% | D− |
| 2,491 | Indianola MS | 8,637 | $42K | 30.5% | 13.1% | 35% | D− |
| 2,492 | Union SC | 8,077 | $32K | 28.9% | 11.4% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | 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 Palatka, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns around Palatka
The biggest share goes to East Palatka (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Palatka workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palatka | – | D− | A− | 24 min | $32,021 |
| East Palatka | 2% | C− | C+ | 39 min | $73,718 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Palatka’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 Palatka: questions
What is the median household income in Palatka?
$32,021 (±$4,827) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palatka?
37.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palatka?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palatka work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (9%, 47 mi), Daytona Beach (3%, 47 mi), St. Augustine (2%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Palatka walkable?
Palatka is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palatka without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palatka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palatka
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.