Merritt Island vs Port St. John

A side-by-side comparison of Merritt Island and Port St. John: population, income, housing, and more.

Merritt Island and Port St. John are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Merritt Island has the higher population (34,718 vs 24,617 in Port St. John). Merritt Island has the higher median household income ($91,020 vs $84,214 in Port St. John). Merritt Island has the higher median home value ($379,700 vs $262,700 in Port St. John).

Population, income & housing

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
Population	34,718	24,617
Median age	49.8 yrs	45.1 yrs
Median household income	$91,020	$84,214
Median home value	$379,700	$262,700
Median gross rent	$1,348	$1,679
Housing units	16,816	10,247
Homeownership rate	81.0%	93.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.8%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
Population	36,532 → 34,718 (-5.0%)	11,684 → 24,617 (+110.7%)
Median household income	$64,865 → $91,020 (+40.3%)	$56,955 → $84,214 (+47.9%)
Median home value	$264,600 → $379,700 (+43.5%)	$149,900 → $262,700 (+75.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,019 → $1,348 (+32.3%)	$1,126 → $1,679 (+49.1%)

Merritt Island

Population

36,53234,718

Median household income

$64,865$91,020

Median home value

$264,600$379,700

Median gross rent

$1,019$1,348

Port St. John

Population

11,68424,617

Median household income

$56,955$84,214

Median home value

$149,900$262,700

Median gross rent

$1,126$1,679

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
Under 5	4.3%	4.9%
5 to 17	13.4%	11.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	8.0%
25 to 34	9.4%	13.7%
35 to 44	10.1%	11.9%
45 to 54	13.1%	13.1%
55 to 64	17.4%	19.7%
65 to 74	13.9%	11.4%
75 and over	12.2%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
White (non-Hispanic)	83.0%	81.9%
Black or African American	2.2%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	3.2%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.7%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	7.2%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
No high school diploma	4.3%	8.7%
High school graduate	21.3%	28.6%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	41.4%
Bachelor's degree	24.7%	15.2%
Graduate or professional degree	17.1%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
Drove alone	75.3%	83.6%
Carpooled	4.8%	5.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	17.4%	8.0%
Other means	1.7%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
1-unit, detached	78.3%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	2.8%
20 or more units	8.5%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Merritt Island	Port St. John
Poverty rate	7.4%	10.0%
Average household size	2.47	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1973	1989