Work & commute · Lake Wales

Work & commute in Lake Wales, FL

Most working residents leave Lake Wales for work: only 13% work in town. The top destinations are Winter Haven (8%), Bartow (8%) and Lakeland (6%). Half commute less than 25 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

13%

927 of 7,032 working residents

Typical commute

25 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,105 Lake Wales residents head out of town to work, 927 work right here, and 6,450 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Wales.

6,105live here, work elsewhere

927live and work here

6,450work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Wales goes to work

Lake Wales (in town)right here

13%927

Winter Haven11.9 mi away

8%552

Bartow13.8 mi away

8%541

Lakeland23.6 mi away

6%437

Orlando41.7 mi away

4%291

Tampa53.5 mi away

3%198

Haines City13.3 mi away

2%140

Auburndale17.8 mi away

1%97

Jacksonville166.9 mi away

1%74

Brandon42.7 mi away

1%72

Everywhere elseother towns and states

53%3,703

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

How far

How far Lake Wales commutes

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

24%

26%

23%

27%

24%Under 10 mi

26%10–24 mi

23%25–50 mi

27%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Wales is balanced between jobs and homes

1.05jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.05 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Wales are

7,377 jobs are based in Lake Wales. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Wales’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Wales

7,377 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities31%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs Lake Wales residents hold

7,032 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month49%

+11%

Jobs based in Lake Wales, 2013 → 2023: 6,676 → 7,377. 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.