Photo: Cullen Morgan · CC BY 4.0Sarasota draws 43,529 commuters a day, with 2.4 jobs for every working resident
About one in four stay in Sarasota for work; outside it, Bradenton is the main destination (3%, 11 miles). 48,872 jobs are based in Sarasota, against 20,648 working residents. The two grades for Sarasota are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sarasota: the gist
No single place dominates Sarasota’s commute
The biggest draw, Bradenton, gets only 3% of working residents, and 55% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Sarasota residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Sarasota is where the jobs are
Sarasota has 48,872 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 87,000 people are in town, 48% more than the 58,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Sarasota draws workers from far and wide
The 48,872 jobs in Sarasota are filled from a wide area. Sarasota’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 22%; the other 67% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Sarasota are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Sarasota is services
86% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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.
Why Sarasota gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sarasota is better than 55% of U.S. towns, #300 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Sarasota’s grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sarasota could be anywhere from B− to B+.
The daily trip into Sarasota
Where Sarasota clocks in
3% 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.
How a workday changes Sarasota
On a workday 15,305 residents head out to work and 5,343 work right here.
About 87,000 people are in Sarasota on a workday afternoon, 48% 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.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Florida
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sarasota workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 21,702 commuters (the 13% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Sarasota
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sarasota, 2013 → 2023: 44,152 → 48,872. 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 Sarasota’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Sarasota
About 23% 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.
Sarasota is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.0% 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 25,045 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 51% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% 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). 6.7% of Sarasota households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sarasota’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sarasota is 492nd of 749 U.S. towns of 41,000 to 79,000
| # | 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 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | Weston FL | 69,588 | $140K | 6.1% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Coral Gables FL | 49,578 | $134K | 9.4% | 3.6% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 490 | Florissant MO | 51,124 | $65K | 10.1% | 5.1% | 6% | B |
| 491 | Margate FL | 60,070 | $62K | 12.1% | 4.1% | 5% | B− |
| 492 | Sarasota FL | 58,458 | $72K | 15.0% | 3.6% | 26% | B− |
| 493 | Douglasville GA | 41,523 | $79K | 10.7% | 6.0% | 8% | B− |
| 494 | Leominster MA | 44,194 | $84K | 9.2% | 6.2% | 21% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 749 | 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 Sarasota, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
How Sarasota compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sarasota workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | – | B− | A | 21 min | $72,105 |
| North Sarasota | under 2% | B | A | 27 min | $85,179 |
| South Sarasota | 3% | B | B− | 20 min | $92,933 |
| Southgate | under 2% | A | B+ | 24 min | $80,133 |
| Siesta Key | under 2% | A− | A− | 37 min | $115,854 |
| Fruitville | 3% | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $82,246 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to South Sarasota. Darker towns draw more of Sarasota’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 Sarasota: questions
What is the median household income in Sarasota?
$72,105 (±$4,968) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sarasota?
15.0%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sarasota?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sarasota work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bradenton (3%, 11 mi), Fruitville (3%, 5 mi), Tampa (3%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sarasota walkable?
Sarasota is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 15.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sarasota without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 51% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sarasota, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sarasota
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.