About Odessa

Odessa is a somewhat small town located in the state of Florida. With a population of 14,257 people and just one neighborhood, Odessa is the 182nd largest community in Florida.

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Odessa is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Odessa is a town of sales and office workers, managers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Odessa who work in sales jobs (16.83%), management occupations (15.32%), and office and administrative support jobs (15.32%).

Also of interest is that Odessa has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.36% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In Odessa, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.32 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Residents of Odessa by-and-large get to work each day by driving: 97.5% use their own cars for their daily commute, making it a very car-oriented town. While Odessa may be a convenient place for driving around town, the negative aspect of this is that places that are suitable for walking or bicycling to and from work or stores may be few and far between. In general, car-oriented communities emphasize roads and convenience of driving, but not have a lot of walking-friendly areas to get from home to work, and tend not to have a lot of public transportation options.

As is often the case in a small town, Odessa doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Odessa Information and Demographics

The citizens of Odessa are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 37.56% of adults in Odessa have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Odessa in 2000 was $32,005, which is wealthy relative to Florida and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $128,020 for a family of four. However, Odessa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Odessa home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Odessa is White, followed by African-American. Important ancestries of people in Odessa include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Odessa is English. Some people also speak Spanish.