Work & commute · West Palm Beach

Work & commute in West Palm Beach, FL

About one in 5 of West Palm Beach’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Palm Beach Gardens (6%), Palm Beach (5%) and Palm Springs (5%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

22%

10,239 of 47,115 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 36,876 West Palm Beach residents head out of town to work, 10,239 work right here, and 78,500 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in West Palm Beach.

36,876live here, work elsewhere

10,239live and work here

78,500work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where West Palm Beach goes to work

West Palm Beach (in town)right here

22%10,239

Palm Beach Gardens7.6 mi away

6%2,592

Palm Beach6.3 mi away

5%2,178

Palm Springs7.8 mi away

5%2,151

Riviera Beach4 mi away

4%2,042

Jupiter12.1 mi away

3%1,353

Boca Raton25.9 mi away

3%1,252

Boynton Beach15.4 mi away

2%908

Fort Lauderdale41.7 mi away

2%818

Wellington10.9 mi away

2%744

Everywhere elseother towns and states

48%22,838

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

How far

How far West Palm Beach commutes

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

55%

16%

11%

18%

55%Under 10 mi

16%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

18%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

West Palm Beach is a job hub

1.88jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in West Palm Beach are

88,739 jobs are based in West Palm Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs West Palm Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in West Palm Beach

88,739 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month62%

Jobs West Palm Beach residents hold

47,115 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month56%

+31%

Jobs based in West Palm Beach, 2013 → 2023: 67,783 → 88,739. 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.