Photo: LittleT889 · CC BY 4.0Households in Taft earn less than those in 80% of U.S. towns
For 3% of workers, the job is at home, where Florida as a whole has 16%. 13.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Florida as a whole has 12.6%. Taft 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
Work and commuting in Taft, in brief
Taft trades workers with the towns around it
Taft has about as many jobs (1,190) as working residents (1,233), but they are mostly different people: 1,230 residents leave for work each day while 1,187 people come in. Only 0% of the jobs in Taft are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Taft has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Taft went from 705 in 2013 to 1,190 in 2023, +69%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Taft pay better than its residents’ jobs
74% of the jobs based in Taft pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 54% of the jobs Taft residents hold. 100% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Taft. The jobs ↓
Few Taft workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Florida. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
31% of Taft works in Orlando
377 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Orlando, 4.1 miles away across the town line. That’s far more as work in Taft itself. The commute map ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Taft
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Taft is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #286 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Taft’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($55,735, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Taft could be anywhere from C to A−.
Who works in Taft, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,230 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 1,187 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 (0.97 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.
74% of the jobs in Taft pay over $3,333 a month
1,190 jobs are based in Taft.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Taft, 2013 → 2023: 705 → 1,190. 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 Taft’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Taft
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Taft workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,149 commuters (the 3% 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.
31% of working residents work in Orlando
Where Taft clocks in
31% of workers
4% 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 distance from Taft to work
About 16% 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.
Most trips from Taft start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Taft is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #422 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Taft 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 1,186 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 47% 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). 7.3% of Taft households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Taft’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Taft is 2,002nd among 4,969 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Atlantis FL | 2,140 | $117K | 3.6% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,000 | Raccoon Township PA | 2,737 | $85K | 5.7% | 7.5% | 2% | B |
| 2,001 | East Sonora CA | 2,651 | $78K | 11.6% | 0.7% | 5% | B |
| 2,002 | Taft FL | 2,730 | $56K | 13.3% | 2.8% | <1% | B |
| 2,003 | Charlotte Park FL | 1,966 | $60K | 3.7% | 4.2% | <1% | B |
| 2,004 | Pea Ridge FL | 3,560 | $60K | 8.1% | 2.1% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Taft, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Bordering towns draw 31% of Taft’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Orlando. Darker towns draw more of Taft’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 Taft: questions
What is the median household income in Taft?
$55,735 (±$20,009) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Taft?
13.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Taft?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Taft work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orlando (31%, 4 mi), Lake Buena Vista (4%, 10 mi), Kissimmee (2%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Taft walkable?
Taft is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Taft without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Taft, from the people who make the trip.
More of Taft
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.