Glover School · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Willow Oak has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 320 jobs in Willow Oak, against 2,761 working residents. For jobs and income Willow Oak is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (D). Hardly any work in Willow Oak itself; outside it, Lakeland draws the most (20%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Willow Oak stands out on work
Willow Oak is a place people come home to
There are 320 jobs based in Willow Oak, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Willow Oak has about 5,000 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Willow Oak averages 32 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (26 to 28 minutes). Next door ↓
Willow Oak and Lakeland trade workers both ways
Lakeland is the top workplace for Willow Oak residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Willow Oak come from (11% of its jobs). 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.
Inside Willow Oak’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Willow Oak’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Willow Oak could be anywhere from C− to B.
How many people are in Willow Oak by day
On a workday 2,739 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 298 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Willow Oak on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer 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.
Out of Willow Oak to work: where people go
Where Willow Oak clocks in
20% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
What Willow Oak’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Oak, 2013 → 2023: 241 → 320. 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 Willow Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes to work from Willow Oak
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willow Oak workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,978 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.
How far Willow Oak goes to work
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.
In Willow Oak, the car does most of the work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across Florida, on an EPA index of 4.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,277 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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). 6.3% of Willow Oak households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Willow Oak’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,125 U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,100, Willow Oak comes 2,263rd 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 342 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,261 | Lemoore Station CA | 6,175 | $69K | 9.4% | 11.2% | 2% | C |
| 2,262 | Cut Off LA | 5,398 | $68K | 19.2% | 2.6% | 7% | C |
| 2,263 | Willow Oak FL | 7,454 | $66K | 24.7% | 4.6% | 1% | C |
| 2,264 | Thatcher AZ | 5,690 | $83K | 12.1% | 4.6% | 14% | C |
| 2,265 | Marathon FL | 10,060 | $89K | 13.4% | 4.3% | 37% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,125 | 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 Willow Oak, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to Willow Oak
The biggest share goes to Mulberry (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willow Oak workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Oak | – | C | D | 32 min | $65,688 |
| Mulberry | 2% | B− | B+ | 28 min | $57,708 |
| Medulla | under 2% | B+ | B− | 26 min | $70,802 |
| Fuller Heights | under 2% | B | C− | 26 min | $82,006 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Willow Oak’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 Willow Oak: questions
What is the median household income in Willow Oak?
$65,688 (±$7,864) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willow Oak?
24.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willow Oak?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willow Oak work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lakeland (20%, 10 mi), Bartow (7%, 13 mi), Plant City (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willow Oak walkable?
Willow Oak is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willow Oak without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willow Oak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Oak
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.