Work & commute · Fort Myers

Work & commute in Fort Myers, FL

About one in 4 of Fort Myers’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Cape Coral (6%), Villas (3%) and Estero (2%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

25%

8,594 of 34,400 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 25,806 Fort Myers residents head out of town to work, 8,594 work right here, and 63,725 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fort Myers.

25,806live here, work elsewhere

8,594live and work here

63,725work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fort Myers goes to work

Fort Myers (in town)right here

25%8,594

Cape Coral10.4 mi away

6%2,089

Villas5.3 mi away

3%1,170

Estero13.4 mi away

2%678

Lehigh Acres11.9 mi away

2%642

Bonita Springs18.5 mi away

2%637

North Fort Myers7 mi away

2%571

Tampa101.3 mi away

1%475

Cypress Lake6.9 mi away

1%411

Orlando131.9 mi away

1%344

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%18,789

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Fort Myers commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

54%

12%

27%

54%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

27%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fort Myers is a job hub

2.10jobs per working resident

A job hub

2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Fort Myers are

72,319 jobs are based in Fort Myers. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Myers’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fort Myers

72,319 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month64%

Jobs Fort Myers residents hold

34,400 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+30%

Jobs based in Fort Myers, 2013 → 2023: 55,490 → 72,319. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.