Photo: Mary Marconi, Coldwell Banker Realtor Palm Harbor, FL · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Palm Harbor (3.3%) than in 65% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, where Florida has 28 and the U.S. 26. Palm Harbor grades B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten work in Palm Harbor; the top destination outside it is Clearwater (12%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Palm Harbor, in brief
Jobs & income in Palm Harbor: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Palm Harbor is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #177 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Palm Harbor’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Palm Harbor could be anywhere from B to A−.
Where people from Palm Harbor work
Where Palm Harbor clocks in
12% of workers
10% of workers
9% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Palm Harbor
On a workday 22,881 residents head out to work, 2,487 work right here, and 14,424 people come in from elsewhere.
About 53,000 people are in Palm Harbor on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
The kinds of work in Palm Harbor
16,911 jobs are based in Palm Harbor.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palm Harbor, 2013 → 2023: 12,944 → 16,911. 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 Palm Harbor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes each way, about the FL average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palm Harbor workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,158 commuters (the 23% 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 Palm Harbor
About 16% 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.
Most of Palm Harbor commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palm Harbor is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #302 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 28,892 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 55% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 66% 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). 7.7% of Palm Harbor households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Palm Harbor’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Palm Harbor is 336th among 720 U.S. towns of 43,000 to 83,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Weston FL | 69,588 | $140K | 6.1% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Coral Gables FL | 49,578 | $134K | 9.4% | 3.6% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Redlands CA | 74,128 | $105K | 9.1% | 5.5% | 19% | B+ |
| 335 | Silver Spring MD | 81,462 | $100K | 10.6% | 5.4% | 6% | B+ |
| 336 | Palm Harbor FL | 61,512 | $79K | 10.3% | 3.3% | 10% | B+ |
| 337 | White Plains NY | 62,871 | $111K | 11.2% | 5.9% | 14% | B+ |
| 338 | Pico Rivera CA | 58,915 | $88K | 10.3% | 4.9% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 720 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Palm Harbor, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door is work for 16% of Palm Harbor
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Palm Harbor workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Harbor | – | B+ | B+ | 27 min | $78,935 |
| Dunedin | 4% | B | A− | 25 min | $74,477 |
| Tarpon Springs | under 3% | B | B+ | 29 min | $79,529 |
| East Lake | under 3% | A− | C+ | 28 min | $99,333 |
| Clearwater | 12% | B− | A+ | 23 min | $66,381 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Clearwater. Darker towns draw more of Palm Harbor’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 Palm Harbor: questions
What is the median household income in Palm Harbor?
$78,935 (±$3,953) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palm Harbor?
10.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palm Harbor?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palm Harbor work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clearwater (12%, 7 mi), Tampa (10%, 19 mi), Largo (9%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Palm Harbor walkable?
Palm Harbor is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palm Harbor without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palm Harbor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palm Harbor
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.