Making a living in Sky Lake
A typical one-way commute lasts 36 minutes, next to 28 for Florida and 26 for the U.S. 8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Florida as a whole. Only 3% stay in Sky Lake for work; outside it, Orlando is the main destination (24%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Sky Lake apart
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Sky Lake’s working residents have a job less than 8 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 36 minutes, longer than the Florida average of 28. Time on the road ↓
Sky Lake and Orlando trade workers both ways
Orlando is the top workplace for Sky Lake residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Sky Lake come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Sky Lake workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Sky Lake’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 14% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Sky Lake pay little
26% of the jobs based in Sky Lake pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
The figures behind Sky Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sky Lake is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #251 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Sky Lake’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sky Lake could be anywhere from C to A.
About 36 minutes each way for Sky Lake’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sky Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,202 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where Sky Lake’s working residents head each day
Where Sky Lake clocks in
24% of workers
5% of workers
2% 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.
The kinds of work in Sky Lake
1,958 jobs are based in Sky Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sky Lake, 2013 → 2023: 1,742 → 1,958. 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 Sky Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Sky Lake
On a workday 3,139 residents head out to work, 90 work right here, and 1,868 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,800 people are in Sky Lake on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Sky Lake
About 20% 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.
Sky Lake is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 3,462 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 51% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 20.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 4.3% of Sky Lake households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sky Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sky Lake next to U.S. towns of 5,700 to 11,000: 1,453rd of 3,007 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,451 | Hailey ID | 10,053 | $91K | 7.4% | 2.3% | 30% | B |
| 1,452 | Walden NY | 6,935 | $87K | 11.1% | 4.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,453 | Sky Lake FL | 8,116 | $70K | 12.5% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,454 | Westwood Lakes FL | 10,553 | $86K | 8.3% | 8.3% | 3% | B |
| 1,455 | Fuller Heights FL | 10,083 | $82K | 7.7% | 4.9% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,007 | 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 Sky Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns around Sky Lake
The biggest share goes to Pine Castle (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sky Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Lake | – | B | A− | 36 min | $70,203 |
| Pine Castle | 1% | C | B+ | 25 min | $49,761 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sky Lake’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 Sky Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Sky Lake?
$70,203 (±$7,520) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sky Lake?
12.5%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sky Lake?
36 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sky Lake work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orlando (24%, 4 mi), Lake Buena Vista (5%, 10 mi), Kissimmee (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sky Lake walkable?
Sky Lake is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 15.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sky Lake without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 51% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sky Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sky Lake
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.