Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Perry have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 18.9% of residents, against 12.6% across Florida. Jobs and income earn Perry D−; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in four stay in Perry for work; outside it, Tallahassee is the main destination (14%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Perry
Perry’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Perry is Tallahassee, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (364) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Perry are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
Perry trades workers with the towns around it
Perry has about as many jobs (3,006) as working residents (2,687), but they are mostly different people: 1,917 residents leave for work each day while 2,236 people come in. Only 26% of the jobs in Perry are held by people who live here. 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.
How Perry earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Perry is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #625 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Perry’s grade up (6.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($40,898, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Perry could be anywhere from D− to C.
Half of Perry commutes less than 8 miles
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.
Getting to work from Perry takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Perry workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,582 commuters (the 12% 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.
In and out of Perry on a workday
On a workday 1,917 residents head out to work, 770 work right here, and 2,236 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 (1.12 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 people from Perry work
Where Perry clocks in
14% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
What work there is in Perry: 3,006 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perry, 2013 → 2023: 3,198 → 3,006. 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 Perry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Perry, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Perry is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #239 of 638 in Florida. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across Florida, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,918 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.2% of Perry households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Perry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Perry and other U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,074 | Earlimart CA | 7,214 | $53K | 21.8% | 24.9% | 5% | D |
| 3,075 | Yreka CA | 7,714 | $44K | 17.0% | 7.5% | 53% | D− |
| 3,076 | Perry FL | 7,330 | $41K | 18.9% | 6.4% | 29% | D− |
| 3,077 | Harrisburg IL | 7,922 | $43K | 29.0% | 9.5% | 26% | D− |
| 3,078 | Forest City NC | 7,410 | $36K | 32.1% | 7.5% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,154 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Perry, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
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 Perry: questions
What is the median household income in Perry?
$40,898 (±$7,803) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perry?
18.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Perry?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Perry work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tallahassee (14%, 46 mi), Jacksonville (2%, 116 mi), Tampa (1%, 162 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Perry walkable?
Perry is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Perry without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Perry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perry
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.