Fort Pierce, Florida

Area Profile

49,082 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fort Pierce, in St. Lucie County.

37out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 1% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3766th of 3,904 published cities25
Schools2408th of 2,668 published cities19
Growth2100th of 2,973 published cities38
Housing affordability3888th of 4,223 published cities46
ClimateTop 8% of 4,223 published cities86
Physical resilience3774th of 4,182 published cities14
Access3614th of 4,226 published cities73
Economic stability4115th of 4,226 published cities23
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 7.0% and the Opportunity signal places Fort Pierce in the bottom 4%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 107 units authorized over the past twelve months, 80% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane and cold wave.

At a glance

Population
49,082
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$47,072
Bottom 18% nationally
Density
1,987/sq mi
24.7 sq mi of land
Median age
37.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
St. Lucie County
Florida
Metro area
Port St. Lucie, FL
Nearest major airport
MLB
50 mi · Melbourne Orlando Intl
Median home value
$250,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 7.0% is lower than 3% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 18,741 employed residents.

Median household income of $47,072 is below 82% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,864$47,072Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,118$25,455Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate26.2%Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.9 minTop 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.7%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment18,741Bottom 23%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.2%Bottom 28%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 49%June 2026
Labor force20,156Bottom 24%June 2026
Labor force participation54.0%Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$59,230Bottom 13%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$46,490Bottom 11%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 25%June 2026
Unemployment rate7.0%Top 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/068.13.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 7.0% 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
202120222023202447k40k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $47,072 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 — Port St. Lucie, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons6,210$34,020
Registered Nurses5,310$82,090
Fast Food and Counter Workers4,690$29,130
Waiters and Waitresses4,050$36,250
Cashiers4,050$30,540
General and Operations Managers3,850$94,910

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.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 19.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
39.5%
Bottom 18% in Florida
Reading proficiency
42.0%
Bottom 19% in Florida
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
FORT PIERCE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLST. LUCIE3,17826.9
FORT PIERCE WESTWOOD ACADEMY THE W.E.S.T. PREP MAGNETST. LUCIE1,95621.7
LINCOLN PARK ACADEMYST. LUCIE1,66723.557%67%
FOREST GROVE MIDDLE SCHOOLST. LUCIE85519.437%42%
SAMUEL S. GAINES ACADEMY OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIESST. LUCIE78615.741%40%
LAWNWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLST. LUCIE76515.940%33%
WEATHERBEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLST. LUCIE72619.633%31%
ST. LUCIE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLST. LUCIE72217.625%23%
DAN MCCARTY MIDDLE SCHOOLST. LUCIE65715.622%22%
FAIRLAWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLST. LUCIE65315.967%67%
INDEPENDENCE CLASSICAL ACADEMY · charterST. LUCIE55713.619%41%
CREATIVE ARTS ACADEMY OF ST. LUCIEST. LUCIE51514.750%52%

58.0% 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 $1,217 takes 31% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.3 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
31.0%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,217
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$250,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.33Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate49.5%Bottom 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±74822,871Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$46$1,217Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,720$250,800Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income31.0%Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate17.5%Top 29%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
38/ 100
Ranks 2100 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, 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 7% since 2020, reaching 50,805 in 2024.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
107
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 49% nationally
Year over year
−80%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
22.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202451k48k
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
2022202320242025409327
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+25%).

Weather & climate

9 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 51°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 35, 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 FT PIERCE ST LUCIE CO INTL AP, 5.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND6.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index45.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation51.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low51°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index35.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing19°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
35
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
45
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

14 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane and cold wave.

HurricaneHigh
Cold waveModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

St. Lucie County records 4.8 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 14.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 15.5 per 100,000 residents in St. Lucie County.

Homicide
4.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
15.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 St. Lucie 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 Fort Pierce rather than Fort Pierce 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 50 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Melbourne Orlando IntlMLB50 mi10,181 ft
President Donald J Trump IntlDJT54 mi10,001 ft
Orlando IntlMCO91 mi10,000 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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Area Score
37
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Other cities in Port St. Lucie, FL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Port St. LucieSt. Lucie County232,49152vs Fort Pierce
Palm CityMartin County26,371vs Fort Pierce
StuartMartin County18,52043vs Fort Pierce
Lakewood ParkSt. Lucie County13,866vs Fort Pierce
Hobe SoundMartin County13,817vs Fort Pierce
Jensen BeachMartin County12,531vs Fort Pierce
Port SalernoMartin County11,184vs Fort Pierce

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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.

ZIP codes in Fort Pierce

5 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3498231,143$54,08237
3495017,461$30,40032
3494712,804$51,81141
349497,470$94,94948
349815,031$71,13642