Plaza Ferdinand VII · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Pensacola has 2.8 jobs for every working resident: 52,943 people commute in to work
Employers in Pensacola report 61,650 jobs, and 22,307 of its residents work somewhere. Pensacola grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.8 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
What the numbers say about work in Pensacola
Pensacola is where the jobs are
Pensacola has 61,650 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 93,000 people are in town, 73% more than the 54,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Pensacola residents work close to home
69% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Pensacola are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
The four measures behind Pensacola’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pensacola is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #398 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Pensacola’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.3%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pensacola could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Who leaves Pensacola for work, and who comes in
On a workday 13,600 residents head out to work and 8,707 work right here.
About 93,000 people are in Pensacola on a workday afternoon, 73% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How many miles Pensacola commutes
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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Pensacola
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pensacola workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 21,642 commuters (the 17% 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.
Commuting in to Pensacola: where workers come from
Where Pensacola clocks in
Lines 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.
What Pensacola’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pensacola, 2013 → 2023: 52,999 → 61,650. 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 Pensacola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Pensacola is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pensacola is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #186 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% 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 25,986 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 81% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 41% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 74% 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). 8.4% of Pensacola households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pensacola’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Pensacola is 621st among 830 U.S. towns of 38,000 to 73,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Parkland FL | 39,186 | $199K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Weston FL | 69,588 | $140K | 6.1% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 619 | Hickory NC | 45,975 | $65K | 17.1% | 3.8% | 33% | C+ |
| 620 | Hobart Township IN | 39,973 | $70K | 12.4% | 7.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 621 | Pensacola FL | 53,817 | $74K | 12.6% | 6.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 622 | Roseville MI | 46,863 | $62K | 12.5% | 6.7% | 6% | C+ |
| 623 | Moorhead MN | 46,533 | $73K | 16.1% | 5.0% | 22% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 830 | 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 Pensacola, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns next door employ 19% of Pensacola
The biggest share goes to Ferry Pass (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pensacola workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensacola | – | C+ | A− | 22 min | $74,212 |
| Ferry Pass | 9% | C | A | 22 min | $61,689 |
| Goulding | 1% | D | A | 25 min | $29,368 |
| Brent | 5% | C− | A+ | 19 min | $49,167 |
| West Pensacola | 2% | C− | A+ | 25 min | $40,511 |
| Gulf Breeze | 2% | B | B | 24 min | $104,050 |
| Warrington | under 2% | C− | A− | 23 min | $61,861 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pensacola’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 Pensacola: questions
What is the median household income in Pensacola?
$74,212 (±$2,962) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pensacola?
12.6%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pensacola?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pensacola work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ferry Pass (9%, 6 mi), Brent (5%, 4 mi), Ensley (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pensacola walkable?
Pensacola is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pensacola without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 41% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pensacola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pensacola
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.