Fort Pierce, Florida

Fort Pierce is the county seat of St. Lucie County, on Florida's southeast Atlantic coast where the Fort Pierce Inlet joins the Indian River Lagoon, and the city describes itself as covering approximately 31 square miles.

The City of Fort Pierce says it was incorporated in 1901, grew from 300 pioneers, and sits at the center of the Treasure Coast, a name that comes from the sinking of a Spanish treasure fleet in 1715 (City of Fort Pierce About page). The same page calls the Fort Pierce Inlet safe, straight and deep, and says the Port of Fort Pierce is one of Florida's 14 deepwater ports.

The National Register nomination for the Sunrise Theatre, prepared with the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation, gives the longer history: the Army built a fort on a bluff on the west bank of the Indian River during the Second Seminole War and named it for Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pierce; a post office named Fort Pierce opened in P. P. Cobb's store in 1888; the town was incorporated on February 2, 1901; and in 1905 Fort Pierce became the seat of the new St. Lucie County, created out of Brevard County (NRHP nomination, Sunrise Theatre, historical context). The nomination also records that excitement over the new Sunrise Theatre in 1923 led Fort Pierce to adopt the slogan "The Sunrise City."

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates count Fort Pierce at 49,082 residents with a median age of 37.2.

In the same ACS 2020-2024 release, 20.8 percent of Fort Pierce residents were 65 or older (ACS 2024 DP05, Fort Pierce city), median household income was $47,072 and workers averaged a 27.4 minute trip to work (ACS 2024 DP03, Fort Pierce city). The ACS housing table counts 22,871 housing units in Fort Pierce, 18,878 of them occupied; owners held 49.5 percent of occupied units, the median owner-occupied value was $250,800 and the median gross rent was $1,217 a month (ACS 2024 DP04, Fort Pierce city).

The city's own About page gives a rounder, lower figure, saying Fort Pierce grew to "over 45,000 residents today" (City of Fort Pierce About page); the ACS estimate above is the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 figure for the Fort Pierce city place.

Fort Pierce is run by a mayor and four city commissioners, two holding District 1 seats and two holding District 2 seats, who meet on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 5:05 p.m. at City Hall.

The Fort Pierce Mayor and City Commission page lists the mayor and the four commissioners by district and seat, and says commissioners hold Wednesday office hours at Fort Pierce City Hall by appointment through (772) 467-3065 (Fort Pierce Mayor and City Commission page). Meetings are held in the City Commission Chambers; when the Monday is a holiday the meeting moves to the next day, and sessions air on Comcast Channel 27 FPTV (Fort Pierce FAQ, commission meetings).

Fort Pierce City Hall is at 100 N. U.S. Highway 1, Fort Pierce 34950, phone 772-467-3000. The City Clerk keeps agendas and minutes, administers municipal elections, maintains the Code of Ordinances, serves as public records custodian, and issues certificates of use and vacation rental registrations (Fort Pierce City Clerk page). Downtown and other districts are also shaped by the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency, which the city established in 1982 with Ordinance No. H-239 and later expanded south of Atlantic Avenue (2020 Updated FPRA Plan).

Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, created by a 1972 referendum of city voters, provides electric, water, wastewater and natural gas service.

By City Charter, FPUA is governed by an independent five-member board: four members appointed by the Fort Pierce City Commission to four-year overlapping terms, and the mayor of Fort Pierce as the fifth (FPUA history page). The City Commission approves FPUA's rates and budget, and FPUA says it has transferred over 100 million dollars to the city's General Fund since 1972. Its electric history runs back to a 1911 bond election and 1912 rates of 15 cents per kilowatt hour; today the system serves approximately 25,000 customers, and through the Florida Municipal Power Agency it owns a 13,000 kW share of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. FPUA's outage and trouble line is (772) 466-7703.

The biggest FPUA project is moving the wastewater plant off Hutchinson Island and away from the Indian River Lagoon to a new Mainland Water Reclamation Facility. FPUA's FY 2026 budget says projects mandated by government and regulators make up 52 percent, or $144,319,892, of the FY 2026 to FY 2030 capital plan, primarily because of that move (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The same budget plans fiber construction to part of South Hutchinson Island and more of downtown Fort Pierce.

Downtown Fort Pierce sits on the Indian River Lagoon around Marina Square and the publicly owned Fort Pierce City Marina, with the Saturday Farmers Market, Friday Fest and the city-owned Sunrise Theatre nearby.

The City of Fort Pierce describes a historic waterfront downtown with the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at Marina Square, a Green Market on Wednesday afternoons, Friday Fest and the Jazz Market, and the city-owned and operated 1,200-seat Sunrise Theatre (City of Fort Pierce About page, features). It lists the A. E. Backus Museum and Gallery, the St. Lucie Regional History Museum and the Manatee Center among local museums, and, under attractions, the National UDT Navy SEAL Museum.

The Fort Pierce City Marina, established on October 28, 1937, is publicly owned and operated at 1 Marina Way, phone 772-464-1245, monitors VHF channels 16 and 17, and lists transient dockage, two fueling stations, pump out, an IGFA weigh station and a storm protection system the city calls first in the state (Fort Pierce About the Marina page). Downtown parking has 2-hour limits enforced Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM in marked areas, and overnight parking at city parks and beaches is prohibited (Fort Pierce Parking page).

Fort Pierce has opened a city Highwaymen Museum on Avenue D, is resurfacing 1.6 miles of Avenue D, has a finished conceptual design for Marina Square, and FPUA is moving its wastewater plant to the mainland.

The city sponsored the Florida Highwaymen Museum soft opening on February 20, 2026 at 1234 Avenue D in Lincoln Park (City of Fort Pierce news, Highwaymen Museum soft opening). The museum page describes a 3,200 square foot, two-story former church and rooming house with paintings from all 26 original Highwaymen, and private tours on request (Fort Pierce Highwaymen Museum page).

The Avenue D Road Improvement Project resurfaces Avenue D from 29th Street to U.S. 1 with new ramps, crosswalks and a Lincoln Park gateway sign, funded by $1.5 million in state legislative money, $1.5 million from the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency and local infrastructure surtax (Avenue D Corridor Improvements page). The FPRA adopted a Downtown Master Plan in November 2022, and the Marina Square conceptual design for a public space for concerts, farmers markets and festivals has been finalized as a framework for future phased implementation (Marina Square page).

Flood insurance in Fort Pierce reflects the city's FEMA Community Rating System class 6, with a class rating effective date of May 1, 2012, which gives NFIP policies a 20 percent discount inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 10 percent elsewhere; the current Fort Pierce flood map took effect on 02/19/20 (FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, Fort Pierce).

Each common Fort Pierce question below points to a one-line answer and the place that holds the full answer.

Fort Pierce facts in the table come from the ACS tables (ACS DP05), the city (City Clerk contact) and FPUA (FPUA); the full set of Fort Pierce guides is linked below this answer.

Last verified: October 22, 2026, for Fort Pierce against ACS 2020-2024 tables DP03, DP04 and DP05, the city About, Commission, Clerk, Marina, Parking, Avenue D, Marina Square and Highwaymen Museum pages, the Sunrise Theatre National Register nomination, FPUA history and FY 2026 budget, and FEMA's NFIP record.