Wright has 0.9 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C+: better than 44% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #396 of 638 in Florida.
Walkability B+: more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns · #280 of 638 in Florida.
Household incomes here are lower than in 58% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Florida 28, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Wright; the top destination outside it is Fort Walton Beach (19%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Wright
What’s behind Wright’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wright is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #396 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Wright’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.7%, 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, Wright could be anywhere from C to B.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 8,464 residents head out to work, 1,249 work right here, and 7,089 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 (0.86 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.
19% of working residents work in Fort Walton Beach
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Wright clocks in
19% of workers
8% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 8,338 jobs in Wright are
8,338 jobs are based in Wright. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wright’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wright, 2013 → 2023: 6,833 → 8,338. 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.
About 25 minutes each way, quicker than most of Florida
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wright workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,072 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Wright commutes less than 10 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 18% 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.
Most trips from Wright start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wright is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #280 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Wright 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 14,811 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). 6.2% of Wright households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wright’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wright is 1,038th of 1,409 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 38,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wright, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
| # | 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Jacksonville Beach FL | 23,615 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Palmetto Bay FL | 24,886 | $142K | 5.8% | 2.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Keystone FL | 25,858 | $161K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,036 | Unity Township PA | 21,196 | $75K | 11.2% | 5.8% | 17% | C+ |
| 1,037 | Falmouth MA | 33,361 | $93K | 9.6% | 6.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 1,038 | Wright FL | 27,927 | $70K | 16.7% | 3.6% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,039 | East Ridge TN | 21,921 | $62K | 13.1% | 5.3% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,040 | Carlisle PA | 22,693 | $62K | 15.1% | 4.4% | 22% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,409 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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.
21% of Wright works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Fort Walton Beach (19%). Darker towns draw more of Wright’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wright workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wright | – | C+ | B+ | 25 min | $70,195 |
| Fort Walton Beach | 19% | B− | B+ | 23 min | $68,538 |
| Ocean City | 2% | B− | B− | 25 min | $59,039 |
| Hurlburt Field | under 2% | B | B− | 15 min | $61,731 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Wright: questions
What is the median household income in Wright?
$70,195 (±$4,650) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wright?
16.7%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wright?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wright work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Walton Beach (19%, 2 mi), Destin (8%, 11 mi), Pensacola (3%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wright walkable?
Wright is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wright without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wright, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wright
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.