Volusia County, FL

County Profile

579,622 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Volusia County, FL.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

50out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 10% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity869th of 1,255 counties46
Schools830th of 973 counties22
Growth723rd of 1,226 counties45
Housing affordability1106th of 1,255 counties67
ClimateTop 4% of 1,254 counties82
Physical resilience1085th of 1,255 counties28
AccessTop 22% of 1,255 counties93
Economic stability888th of 1,255 counties48
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 2,025 units authorized over the past twelve months, 29% below the prior year.

Housing sits below most published city profiles for affordability: rent takes 25% of median household income and the median home is 4.5 times it — each just short of the thresholds that would count as strained, but both toward the costly end.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, wildfire and coastal flooding.

At a glance

Population
579,622
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,044
Top 37% nationally
Density
526/sq mi
1101.1 sq mi of land
Median age
46.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Volusia County
Florida
Metro area
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL
Nearest major airport
SFB
20 mi · Orlando Sanford Intl
Median home value
$313,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.3% is lower than 15% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 253,172 employed residents.

28% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$1,237$70,044Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$731$39,154Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.8%Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.3 minTop 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.4%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment253,172Top 11%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.6%Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 39%June 2026
Labor force267,205Top 11%June 2026
Labor force participation54.8%Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 14%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.3%Top 15%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.62.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202470k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,044 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons8,780$33,370
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,240$28,660
Registered Nurses6,600$84,180
Cashiers6,070$29,950
Waiters and Waitresses5,920$35,440
General and Operations Managers4,800$91,710

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

50% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
84
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
50.4%
Bottom 21% in Florida
Reading proficiency
51.6%
Bottom 31% in Florida
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
DELAND HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA2,93622.4
UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA2,85525.3
SPRUCE CREEK HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA2,57623.0
MAINLAND HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,96423.7
DELTONA HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,71622.6
NEW SMYRNA BEACH HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,68723.8
PINE RIDGE HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,64822.3
SEABREEZE HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,58721.7
RIVER SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,21819.645%44%
ATLANTIC HIGH SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,20922.4
SILVER SANDS MIDDLE SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,19920.756%53%
DELTONA MIDDLE SCHOOLVOLUSIA1,13218.640%45%

52.8% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Florida’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,467 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,467
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$313,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.47Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate73.7%Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±146282,109Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$25$1,467Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,772$313,000Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.1%Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate14.3%Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
45/ 100
Ranks 723 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 8% since 2020, reaching 602,772 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 10% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 3.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
2,025
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.5
Top 43% nationally
Year over year
−29%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
9.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024603k556k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420255k3k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−47%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 49°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DAYTONA BEACH INTL AP, 11.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index53.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation51.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low49°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing23°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
53
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

28 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, wildfire and coastal flooding.

HurricaneElevated
WildfireModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, tornado, inland flooding, strong wind, heat wave, earthquake, landslide, hail, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Volusia County records 2.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.3 per 100,000 residents in Volusia County.

Homicide
2.5
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
21.3
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
22.4
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Volusia County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Volusia County rather than Volusia County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 20 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Orlando Sanford IntlSFB20 mi11,002 ft
Orlando IntlMCO44 mi10,000 ft
St AugustineSGJ63 mi8,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.