Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

Area Profile

22,437 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sunny Isles Beach, in Miami-Dade County.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 29% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 15% of 3,904 cities measured74
GrowthTop 8% of 2,973 cities measured76
Housing affordability4214th of 4,223 cities measured9
ClimateTop 24% of 4,223 cities measured77
Physical resilience3355th of 4,182 cities measured24
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stability3995th of 4,226 cities measured28
The quick read

Sunny Isles Beach ranks in the top 15% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.5% and median household income of $61,921.

Housing costs more relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 41% of median household income and the median home is 8.9 times it.

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

At a glance

Population
22,437
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$61,921
Bottom 42% nationally
Density
22,193/sq mi
1.0 sq mi of land
Median age
47.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Miami-Dade County
Florida
Metro area
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
Nearest major airport
FLL
9 mi · Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Intl
Median home value
$549,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.5% is lower than 99% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.6% over the past year, to 1,396,291 employed residents.

53% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 90% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,099$61,921Bottom 42%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$7,285$59,467Top 10%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.3%Top 38%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute34.3 minTop 18%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher53.2%Top 10%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment1,396,291Top 4%of 3,904July 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.6%Bottom 42%of 3,903July 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 19%of 3,904July 2026
Labor force1,431,927Top 4%of 3,904July 2026
Labor force participation55.2%Bottom 33%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,190Bottom 42%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,640Bottom 27%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 24%of 3,904July 2026
Unemployment rate2.5%Bottom 1%of 3,904July 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202462k52k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $61,921 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 — Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons91,370$34,330
General and Operations Managers74,960$105,640
Customer Service Representatives63,440$39,560
Registered Nurses61,670$91,380
Office Clerks, General61,160$44,730
Waiters and Waitresses57,830$36,070

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 Miami-Dade County, FL, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,096 takes 41% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 8.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
40.6%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
8.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,096
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$549,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income8.87Top 2%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate54.2%Bottom 13%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±77219,666Top 3%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$136$2,096Top 7%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$118,763$549,100Top 10%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income40.6%Top 1%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate48.0%Top 5%of 32,0012024 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
76/ 100
Top 8% 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 3% since 2020, reaching 22,903 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

98% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 11.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
254
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
11.3
Top 10% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
98.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202423k22k
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
202020222023202420252564.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−14%).

Weather & climate

7 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 59°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 62.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 48, in the Good band, and about 4 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station HOLLYWOOD NORTH PERRY AP, 8.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND8.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation62.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low59°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10042024 calendar year
Median air quality index48.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing17°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
48
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
4
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

24 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneElevated
Coastal floodingModerate
Cold waveElevated

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

Violent crime
91
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
802
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Sunny Isles Beach's police department reported 91 violent offences per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 802.

Miami-Dade County records 4.6 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 7.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 7.3 per 100,000 residents in Miami-Dade County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
7.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.6
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.

Offences are reported to the FBI by Sunny Isles Beach’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Miami-Dade 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 Sunny Isles Beach rather than Sunny Isles Beach 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.

Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood IntlFLL9 mi8,000 ft
Miami-Opa Locka ExecOPF10 mi8,002 ft
Miami IntlMIA14 mi13,016 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
55
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Other cities in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
MiamiMiami-Dade County459,74553vs Sunny Isles Beach
HialeahMiami-Dade County226,16552vs Sunny Isles Beach
Fort LauderdaleBroward County185,60448vs Sunny Isles Beach
Pembroke PinesBroward County173,19446vs Sunny Isles Beach
HollywoodBroward County155,08245vs Sunny Isles Beach
MiramarBroward County138,60054vs Sunny Isles Beach
Coral SpringsBroward County136,10349vs Sunny Isles Beach
West Palm BeachPalm Beach County122,29051vs Sunny Isles Beach
Pompano BeachBroward County114,14744vs Sunny Isles Beach
Miami GardensMiami-Dade County113,17745vs Sunny Isles Beach
DavieBroward County108,34650vs Sunny Isles Beach
Boca RatonPalm Beach County100,23454vs Sunny Isles Beach

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
safetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
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
July 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
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.