Fort Pierce vs Port St. Lucie

A side-by-side comparison of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Port St. Lucie has the higher population (220,453 vs 48,094 in Fort Pierce). Port St. Lucie has the higher median household income ($78,137 vs $46,745 in Fort Pierce). Port St. Lucie has the higher median home value ($327,700 vs $220,500 in Fort Pierce).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
Population	48,094	220,453
Median age	38.0 yrs	43.7 yrs
Median household income	$46,745	$78,137
Median home value	$220,500	$327,700
Median gross rent	$1,194	$1,781
Housing units	22,708	86,398
Homeownership rate	48.9%	83.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	26.8%
Unemployment rate	9.7%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
Population	45,329 → 48,094 (+6.1%)	189,396 → 220,453 (+16.4%)
Median household income	$35,198 → $46,745 (+32.8%)	$60,587 → $78,137 (+29.0%)
Median home value	$113,600 → $220,500 (+94.1%)	$207,200 → $327,700 (+58.2%)
Median gross rent	$943 → $1,194 (+26.6%)	$1,417 → $1,781 (+25.7%)

Fort Pierce

Population

45,32948,094

Median household income

$35,198$46,745

Median home value

$113,600$220,500

Median gross rent

$943$1,194

Port St. Lucie

Population

189,396220,453

Median household income

$60,587$78,137

Median home value

$207,200$327,700

Median gross rent

$1,417$1,781

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
Under 5	7.3%	5.1%
5 to 17	17.0%	15.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.0%
25 to 34	14.1%	11.5%
35 to 44	10.2%	12.7%
45 to 54	10.8%	12.7%
55 to 64	11.0%	13.9%
65 to 74	13.8%	11.7%
75 and over	7.6%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
White (non-Hispanic)	33.0%	51.8%
Black or African American	41.7%	18.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.6%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	21.7%	23.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
No high school diploma	22.4%	9.1%
High school graduate	29.2%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	29.6%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
Drove alone	70.0%	79.0%
Carpooled	14.9%	8.0%
Public transit	0.8%	0.1%
Walked	2.1%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.7%	10.5%
Other means	1.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
1-unit, detached	40.9%	86.8%
1-unit, attached	4.6%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	22.3%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	18.7%	4.3%
20 or more units	10.8%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Fort Pierce	Port St. Lucie
Poverty rate	26.2%	8.5%
Average household size	2.56	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	27	30
Median year structure built	1981	2001