ACS 2024 5-YEAR ESTIMATES↗ DIRECTIONAL CHANGE FROM 2021UPDATED JAN 29, 2026
COMMUTESHIFTHow America gets to work
PLACE · FL · GEOID 12389502024 5-YEAR

COMMUTE PROFILE

Lake Wales, Florida

According to the 2024 ACS five-year estimates, residents here averaged 23.9 min one way; 8.7% worked from home, 74.4% drove alone, and 6.3% of commuters traveled 60 minutes or more.

Mean one-way trip23.9 min±3.9 min MOE
Worked from home8.7%±3.3 pp MOE
Drove alone74.4%±5.3 pp MOE
60+ minute trip6.3%among commuters

U.S. Census Bureau ACS estimates for residents age 16+ who work. Commute time excludes people working from home.

01 / THE SHIFT

What changed in Lake Wales city's published commute estimate?

From the 2021 to 2024 overlapping ACS periods, mean commute changed -1.9 minutes and the work-from-home share changed +4.7 percentage points.

These periods overlap: 2021 covers 2017–2021 and 2024 covers 2020–2024. Changes are directional comparisons, not independent annual measurements.

Mean commute25.8 min → 23.9 min▼ 1.9 min

Average for workers who did not work from home.

Work from home4.0% → 8.7%▲ 4.7 pp

Share of workers age 16+ who usually worked from home.

Public transit0.2% → 0.1%▼ 0.1 pp

Public transportation excluding taxi.

Drive alone81.8% → 74.4%▼ 7.4 pp

Car, truck, or van—drove alone.

02 / MODE SHARE

How Lake Wales city residents usually get to work

Driving alone was the largest listed mode at 74.4%; 0.1% used public transit and 8.7% worked from home.

Drive alone74.4% ±5.3 pp
Carpool13.4% ±4.4 pp
Public transit0.1% ±0.2 pp
Walk0.6% ±0.7 pp
Bicycle0.0% ±0.0 pp
Work from home8.7% ±3.3 pp

Each share uses 5,710 estimated workers as its denominator. Categories shown here do not include every ACS mode.

03 / PEER CONTEXT

How Lake Wales city compares with similar-size places

This place's mean commute is at the 44th percentile among covered under 25k places; each percentile describes one metric only.

Percentiles are single-metric context, never a “good commute” score.

44thMean commute percentile

Mean commute time is lower than about 56% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

35thWork-from-home percentile

The work-from-home share is lower than about 65% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

41thTransit percentile

The public-transit share is lower than about 59% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

48th60+ minute percentile

The 60+ minute share is lower than about 52% of covered places in the under 25k population band.

04 / ESTIMATE BASE

The counts behind Lake Wales city's commute shares

The 2024 estimates cover 5,710 workers age 16+, including 5,213 workers with reported travel time and 497 home workers.

Population estimate16,785± 37 MOE
Workers age 16+5,710± 466 MOE
Workers with travel time5,213± 502 MOE
Estimated home workers497± 193 MOE
Why the ± matters

ACS values are survey estimates. The margin of error is the 90% confidence interval published by the Census Bureau or calculated for a share from published component margins. Small differences can be sampling noise.

05 / SAME STATE

Comparable Florida commute records for Lake Wales city

These 8 same-state records are the closest population peers available in the published dataset, not recommendations or a composite ranking.

All Florida reports →