Photo: Connor J. Williams · CC BY 3.0A job hub: Tavares has 2.2 jobs per working resident, and 16,105 people come in to work
Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns. Tavares has 17,444 jobs; 7,772 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Tavares is better than 55% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Tavares in brief
Tavares is where the jobs are
Tavares has 17,444 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 32,000 people are in town, 43% more than the 22,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Tavares’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tavares is Orlando, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (659) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
No single place dominates Tavares’ commute
The biggest draw, Orlando, gets only 8% of working residents, and 54% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Tavares residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Tavares is services
90% 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 ↓
Tavares draws workers from far and wide
The 17,444 jobs in Tavares are filled from a wide area. Tavares’ own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 30%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Jobs & income in Tavares: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Tavares’ grade up (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($58,886, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tavares could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Tavares on a workday afternoon
On a workday 6,433 residents head out to work and 1,339 work right here.
About 32,000 people are in Tavares on a workday afternoon, 43% 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.
How far it is to work from Tavares
About 22% 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.
Where the people who work in Tavares live
Where Tavares clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
In Tavares, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tavares, 2013 → 2023: 11,870 → 17,444. 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 Tavares’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Tavares spends getting to work: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tavares workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,837 commuters (the 9% 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.
Driving is how Tavares gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 7,495 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). 5.1% of Tavares households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tavares’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Tavares is 1,014th among 1,658 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,012 | Hybla Valley VA | 17,257 | $81K | 9.4% | 8.3% | 4% | B |
| 1,013 | Soledad CA | 26,357 | $97K | 16.7% | 2.7% | 19% | B |
| 1,014 | Tavares FL | 22,490 | $59K | 9.3% | 2.6% | 17% | B |
| 1,015 | Green Valley AZ | 22,114 | $62K | 7.7% | 2.4% | 12% | B |
| 1,016 | Rosemont CA | 23,766 | $90K | 16.6% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | 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 Tavares, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns around Tavares
The biggest share goes to Eustis (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Tavares’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 Tavares: questions
What is the median household income in Tavares?
$58,886 (±$11,285) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tavares?
9.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tavares?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tavares work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orlando (8%, 33 mi), Leesburg (5%, 10 mi), Mount Dora (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tavares walkable?
Tavares is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tavares without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tavares, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tavares
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.