Fort Myers Beach vs Sanibel

A side-by-side comparison of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel: population, income, housing, and more.

Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sanibel has the higher population (6,402 vs 5,548 in Fort Myers Beach). Sanibel has the higher median household income ($122,730 vs $90,833 in Fort Myers Beach). Sanibel has the higher median home value ($912,200 vs $611,600 in Fort Myers Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
Population	5,548	6,402
Median age	66.5 yrs	68.2 yrs
Median household income	$90,833	$122,730
Median home value	$611,600	$912,200
Median gross rent	$1,693	$747
Housing units	9,773	8,525
Homeownership rate	89.9%	91.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.0%	61.6%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
Population	7,048 → 5,548 (-21.3%)	7,319 → 6,402 (-12.5%)
Median household income	$74,357 → $90,833 (+22.2%)	$108,081 → $122,730 (+13.6%)
Median home value	$448,100 → $611,600 (+36.5%)	$721,200 → $912,200 (+26.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,155 → $1,693 (+46.6%)	$1,545 → $747 (-51.7%)

Fort Myers Beach

Population

7,0485,548

Median household income

$74,357$90,833

Median home value

$448,100$611,600

Median gross rent

$1,155$1,693

Sanibel

Population

7,3196,402

Median household income

$108,081$122,730

Median home value

$721,200$912,200

Median gross rent

$1,545$747

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
Under 5	2.3%	0.4%
5 to 17	2.1%	3.7%
18 to 24	4.2%	3.2%
25 to 34	3.4%	1.9%
35 to 44	4.4%	3.6%
45 to 54	5.3%	5.3%
55 to 64	23.3%	22.8%
65 to 74	28.5%	35.7%
75 and over	26.6%	23.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
White (non-Hispanic)	91.8%	95.1%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.5%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
No high school diploma	3.7%	1.1%
High school graduate	24.3%	22.4%
Some college or associate's	26.9%	14.9%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	33.9%
Graduate or professional degree	20.8%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
Drove alone	63.7%	53.7%
Carpooled	4.3%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	3.6%	7.0%
Bicycle	6.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	19.0%	29.9%
Other means	3.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
1-unit, detached	31.2%	55.2%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	2.9%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	19.4%
20 or more units	50.6%	16.7%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Fort Myers Beach	Sanibel
Poverty rate	7.5%	7.7%
Average household size	1.92	1.93
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1982	1983