Photo: Wknight94 · CC BY-SA 3.0Punta Gorda’s household incomes are higher than in 63% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Punta Gorda itself; outside it, Port Charlotte draws the most (11%, 7 miles). 8.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Florida as a whole has 12.6%. Punta Gorda grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Punta Gorda in brief
Punta Gorda is where the jobs are
Punta Gorda has 8,044 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Punta Gorda averages 27 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (18 to 24 minutes). Next door ↓
Punta Gorda’s workforce skews older
39% of Punta Gorda’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 Punta Gorda’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Punta Gorda is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #322 of 638 in Florida. Household income holds Punta Gorda’s grade up ($85,779, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Punta Gorda could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Punta Gorda fills up on a workday
On a workday 4,513 residents head out to work, 668 work right here, and 7,376 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Punta Gorda on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
1.6 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.
What Punta Gorda’s employers do
8,044 jobs are based in Punta Gorda.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Punta Gorda, 2013 → 2023: 6,437 → 8,044. 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 Punta Gorda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Punta Gorda, by distance
About 35% 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.
The towns that send workers to Punta Gorda
Where Punta Gorda clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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.
About 27 minutes to work from Punta Gorda
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Punta Gorda workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,692 commuters (the 19% 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.
Most trips from Punta Gorda start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Punta Gorda is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #405 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Punta Gorda 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 5,780 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 20% 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). 4.6% of Punta Gorda households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Punta Gorda’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Punta Gorda ranks: 1,225th of 1,931 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,223 | Adelphi MD | 17,395 | $82K | 16.2% | 6.0% | 2% | B− |
| 1,224 | Orange City FL | 15,309 | $58K | 10.4% | 3.6% | 8% | B− |
| 1,225 | Punta Gorda FL | 20,383 | $86K | 8.3% | 5.0% | 13% | B− |
| 1,226 | Tukwila WA | 22,003 | $78K | 13.0% | 6.4% | 7% | B− |
| 1,227 | Spring Creek NV | 14,739 | $105K | 7.3% | 4.1% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,931 | 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 Punta Gorda, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to Punta Gorda
The biggest share goes to Charlotte Harbor (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Punta Gorda workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta Gorda | – | B− | B | 27 min | $85,779 |
| Charlotte Park | under 1% | B | A | 24 min | $60,302 |
| Solana | under 1% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Charlotte Harbor | 2% | C | B− | 19 min | $40,406 |
Same-state neighbors only. Solana: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Punta Gorda’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 Punta Gorda: questions
What is the median household income in Punta Gorda?
$85,779 (±$9,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Punta Gorda?
8.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Punta Gorda?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Punta Gorda work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Port Charlotte (11%, 7 mi), Fort Myers (5%, 24 mi), Cape Coral (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Punta Gorda walkable?
Punta Gorda is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Punta Gorda without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Punta Gorda, from the people who make the trip.
More of Punta Gorda
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.