Green Cove Springs, Florida

Area Profile

10,044 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Green Cove Springs, in Clay County.

61out of 100
Area Score
Top 49% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2805th of 3,904 published cities46
GrowthTop 12% of 2,973 published cities74
Housing affordability2272nd of 4,223 published cities78
ClimateTop 17% of 4,223 published cities80
Physical resilience3039th of 4,182 published cities35
AccessTop 49% of 4,226 published cities92
Economic stability2925th of 4,226 published cities49
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Green Cove Springs in the bottom 28%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 167 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 92% on the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
10,044
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$75,142
Top 39% nationally
Density
1,172/sq mi
8.6 sq mi of land
Median age
37.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Clay County
Florida
Metro area
Jacksonville, FL
Nearest major airport
SGJ
21 mi · St Augustine
Median home value
$371,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.5% over the past year, to 108,130 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$10,157$75,142Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,088$38,249Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.7%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.5 minTop 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher27.3%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment108,130Top 38%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.2%Bottom 17%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.5%Top 40%June 2026
Labor force113,593Top 38%June 2026
Labor force participation59.8%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,700Bottom 34%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,830Bottom 30%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 19%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202475k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $75,142 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 — Jacksonville, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons22,390$34,360
Fast Food and Counter Workers21,480$28,470
Registered Nurses18,940$83,520
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand17,350$41,040
Customer Service Representatives17,030$42,840
General and Operations Managers16,870$100,870

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Clay County, FL, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,114 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,114
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$371,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.94Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.0%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2763,794Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$442$1,114Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$64,764$371,000Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.8%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.9%Bottom 37%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
74/ 100
Top 12% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 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 2% since 2020, reaching 10,087 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 16.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
167
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
16.6
Top 5% nationally
Year over year
+92%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202410k10k
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
2020202220232024202512618
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+80%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 47°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.6 inches.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station JACKSONVILLE NAS, 17.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation47.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low47°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing28°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

35 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneElevated
Inland floodingElevated
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate

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

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.

Clay County records 4.3 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 15.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.8 per 100,000 residents in Clay County.

Homicide
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.8
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 Clay 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 Green Cove Springs rather than Green Cove Springs 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 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
St AugustineSGJ21 mi8,001 ft
Jacksonville IntlJAX35 mi10,000 ft
Lake City GatewayLCQ55 mi8,003 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
61
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Other cities in Jacksonville, FL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
JacksonvilleDuval County977,67057vs Green Cove Springs
Fruit CoveSt. Johns County35,877vs Green Cove Springs
LakesideClay County32,105vs Green Cove Springs
Oakleaf PlantationClay County32,070vs Green Cove Springs
Fleming IslandClay County29,766vs Green Cove Springs
NocateeSt. Johns County27,442vs Green Cove Springs
World Golf VillageSt. Johns County26,077vs Green Cove Springs
Jacksonville BeachDuval County23,65466vs Green Cove Springs
Palm ValleySt. Johns County19,796vs Green Cove Springs
YuleeNassau County16,648vs Green Cove Springs
St. AugustineSt. Johns County15,35160vs Green Cove Springs
Bellair-Meadowbrook TerraceClay County14,755vs Green Cove Springs

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

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.