Photo: Kiran891 · CC BY-SA 4.0Vero Beach draws 16,240 commuters a day, with 2.8 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Vero Beach report 17,927 jobs; 6,498 of its residents have a job. Vero Beach grades C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four stay in Vero Beach for work; outside it, Vero Beach South is the main destination (5%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Vero Beach, in brief
Vero Beach is where the jobs are
Vero Beach has 17,927 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 29,000 people are in town, 65% more than the 18,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Vero Beach’s commute
The biggest draw, Vero Beach South, gets only 5% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Vero Beach residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Vero Beach are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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.
Income, poverty and work: Vero Beach’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Vero Beach is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #401 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Vero Beach’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vero Beach could be anywhere from C to B.
The daily commute in and out of Vero Beach
On a workday 4,811 residents head out to work and 1,687 work right here.
About 29,000 people are in Vero Beach on a workday afternoon, 65% 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.
The daily trip into Vero Beach
Where Vero Beach clocks in
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.
From Vero Beach, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vero Beach workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,851 commuters (the 16% 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.
How far it is to work from Vero Beach
About 32% 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 kinds of work in Vero Beach
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vero Beach, 2013 → 2023: 14,649 → 17,927. 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 Vero Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Vero Beach, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vero Beach is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #151 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Vero Beach 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 8,125 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). 5.4% of Vero Beach households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Vero Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Vero Beach is 1,470th of 2,103 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 125 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,468 | Cayce SC | 13,680 | $62K | 13.7% | 5.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,469 | Summit Township MI | 22,705 | $66K | 7.7% | 7.3% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,470 | Vero Beach FL | 17,603 | $70K | 16.1% | 3.4% | 26% | C+ |
| 1,471 | Noble Township IN | 13,633 | $65K | 12.6% | 3.1% | 42% | C+ |
| 1,472 | Menomonie WI | 16,664 | $57K | 17.7% | 5.8% | 41% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | 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 Vero Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
How Vero Beach compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Vero Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vero Beach | – | C+ | A | 18 min | $69,758 |
| Vero Beach South | 5% | B− | C | 21 min | $73,420 |
| South Beach | 1% | A− | B− | 26 min | $193,594 |
| Indian River Shores | 2% | B+ | B | 13 min | $156,037 |
| Gifford | under 2% | D | B | 17 min | $33,175 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Vero Beach South. Darker towns draw more of Vero Beach’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 Vero Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Vero Beach?
$69,758 (±$6,028) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vero Beach?
16.1%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vero Beach?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vero Beach work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vero Beach South (5%, 3 mi), Fort Pierce (4%, 16 mi), Florida Ridge (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vero Beach walkable?
Vero Beach is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vero Beach without a car?
1% 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 Vero Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vero Beach
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.