Palmetto Armory · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Palmetto (2.6%) than in 76% of U.S. towns
Only 7% work in Palmetto itself; outside it, Bradenton draws the most (13%, 2 miles). Palmetto grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 31.0 in Miami.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Palmetto and work: the main findings
Palmetto trades workers with the towns around it
Palmetto has about as many jobs (5,891) as working residents (6,040), but they are mostly different people: 5,634 residents leave for work each day while 5,485 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Palmetto are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Palmetto draws workers from far and wide
The 5,891 jobs in Palmetto are filled from a wide area. Palmetto’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 21%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Palmetto: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Palmetto is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #310 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Palmetto’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($62,621, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Palmetto could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
In and out of Palmetto on a workday
On a workday 5,634 residents head out to work, 406 work right here, and 5,485 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 (0.98 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 Palmetto’s working residents head each day
Where Palmetto clocks in
13% of workers
4% 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 jobs make up 33% of work in Palmetto
5,891 jobs are based in Palmetto.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palmetto, 2013 → 2023: 5,156 → 5,891. 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 Palmetto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Palmetto
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palmetto workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,042 commuters (the 11% 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.
Palmetto’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Palmetto
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palmetto is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #148 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 5,668 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 73% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 38% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.7 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). 5.6% of Palmetto households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Palmetto’s commuters take a bus or train.
Palmetto next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000: 1,461st of 2,526 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 239 | Key Biscayne FL | 14,815 | $182K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,459 | Fenton MI | 11,774 | $80K | 6.9% | 8.7% | 12% | B− |
| 1,460 | Butler Township PA | 16,902 | $77K | 7.6% | 5.3% | 16% | B− |
| 1,461 | Palmetto FL | 13,562 | $63K | 13.5% | 2.6% | 7% | B− |
| 1,462 | Fox Lake IL | 10,849 | $71K | 13.1% | 4.2% | 6% | B− |
| 1,463 | New Haven IN | 16,337 | $71K | 9.7% | 4.8% | 14% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | 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 Palmetto, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
How Palmetto compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Ellenton (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Palmetto’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 Palmetto: questions
What is the median household income in Palmetto?
$62,621 (±$7,333) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palmetto?
13.5%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palmetto?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palmetto work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bradenton (13%, 2 mi), Tampa (4%, 31 mi), St. Petersburg (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Palmetto walkable?
Palmetto is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palmetto without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 38% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palmetto, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palmetto
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.