Fort Pierce Demographics

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey puts Fort Pierce at 49,082 residents in its 2020-2024 5-year estimates, against 360,500 for all of St. Lucie County.

The Fort Pierce column comes from table DP05 for Fort Pierce city, Census place 1224300 (ACS 2024 DP05, Fort Pierce city), and the county column from the same table for St. Lucie County (ACS 2024 DP05, St. Lucie County). The city estimate carries a margin of error of plus or minus 36, and the table splits the Fort Pierce total into 23,252 males and 25,830 females.

Fort Pierce is younger than St. Lucie County: its median age is 37.2 years, against 45.1 for the county, and 25.2 percent of city residents are under 18.

The Fort Pierce DP05 table counts 12,369 residents under 18 and 10,227 aged 65 and over, or 20.8 percent of the city, and puts children under 5 at 7.1 percent. The county, by contrast, has 19.7 percent of its people under 18 and 24.6 percent aged 65 and over (St. Lucie County DP05), so Fort Pierce has a larger share of children and a smaller share of older residents than the county as a whole. The median age estimate for Fort Pierce carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 years.

The same Fort Pierce table reports 88.6 males per 100 females among adults 18 and over, and 81.6 among residents 65 and over, where it counts 4,595 men and 5,632 women.

Black or African American residents who are not Hispanic make up 43.5 percent of Fort Pierce in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, compared with 20.9 percent across St. Lucie County.

The DP05 table for Fort Pierce puts non-Hispanic white residents at 30.3 percent and Hispanic or Latino residents of any race at 20.6 percent, with non-Hispanic Asian residents at 2.1 percent. In the county table, non-Hispanic white residents are 51.1 percent and Hispanic or Latino residents at 21.8 percent (DP05, St. Lucie County).

Within the Hispanic or Latino population of Fort Pierce, the table lists 4,962 residents of Mexican origin (10.1 percent of the city), 1,163 Puerto Rican (2.4 percent), 781 Cuban (1.6 percent) and 3,229 of other Hispanic or Latino origin (6.6 percent). The city's history guides cover Lincoln Park, the historically African American neighborhood along Avenue D.

Of all Fort Pierce residents, 19.3 percent were born outside the United States, and 28.8 percent of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home.

Table DP02 for Fort Pierce counts 9,482 foreign-born residents, while 46.3 percent of the city was born in Florida and 2.5 percent was born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas or abroad to American parents (ACS 2024 DP02, Fort Pierce city). At home, 71.2 percent of residents 5 and older speak only English, 15.2 percent speak Spanish and 12.4 percent speak other Indo-European languages; 13.2 percent of that population speaks English less than very well. Across St. Lucie County, 18.2 percent of residents are foreign-born and 24.6 percent of those 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (ACS 2024 DP02, St. Lucie County).

The ancestry section of the same table puts West Indian ancestry, excluding Hispanic origin groups, at 11.6 percent of Fort Pierce residents, against 6.8 percent in the county table. DP02 also reports that 89.1 percent of people 1 and older lived in the same house a year earlier, and that 4.1 percent of civilians 18 and older are veterans.

The median Fort Pierce household earned $47,072 in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, plus or minus $3,864, and 26.2 percent of residents had incomes below the poverty level.

Fort Pierce income and work figures come from ACS 2024 DP03, Fort Pierce city and the housing rows from ACS 2024 DP04, Fort Pierce city; the county column comes from the same tables for St. Lucie County (DP03, St. Lucie County, DP04, St. Lucie County). On the income, poverty, unemployment, value and rent rows, Fort Pierce households report lower incomes and higher poverty and unemployment than the county as a whole, and Fort Pierce homes carry lower values and rents. DP03 also gives a mean household income of $62,356 for the city and a median family income of $60,211 and counts 20.8 percent of Fort Pierce families below the poverty level. It puts 54.0 percent of residents 16 and older in the labor force.

By industry, the largest share of employed Fort Pierce residents, 24.2 percent, works in educational services, health care and social assistance, followed by arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services at 13.1 percent, professional, scientific and administrative services at 11.5 percent, and construction at 10.2 percent. Workers average a 27.4 minute trip to work; 69.2 percent drive alone and 11.3 percent work from home.

Fort Pierce has 22,871 housing units in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, 18,878 of them occupied, and renters hold 50.5 percent of occupied homes while owners hold 49.5 percent, a higher renter share than the 21.4 percent in St. Lucie County.

The DP04 table for Fort Pierce counts 9,349 owner-occupied and 9,529 renter-occupied units, with 17.5 percent of all units vacant (14.2 percent countywide), a homeowner vacancy rate of 1.9 and a rental vacancy rate of 6.3. Single-family detached houses are 40.4 percent of the housing stock and mobile homes 3.5 percent. Owner households average 2.40 people and renter households 2.73.

DP04 also dates the Fort Pierce housing stock, putting 2.4 percent of units as built in 1939 or earlier and 2.2 percent as built in 2020 or later. The DP02 table counts 18,878 households with an average size of 2.57 people, and 85.9 percent of them have a broadband internet subscription. Among residents 25 and older, 76.5 percent are high school graduates and 18.7 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 26.7 percent holding a bachelor's degree or higher across St. Lucie County, where 92.6 percent of households have broadband.

Every figure on this page is an ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate for Fort Pierce city or St. Lucie County, and the Census tables print a margin of error column beside the estimates.

The Census Bureau publishes these Fort Pierce profiles in four tables: DP02 for social characteristics such as households, language and education (DP02), DP03 for economic characteristics (DP03), DP04 for housing (DP04) and DP05 for age, sex, race and Hispanic origin (DP05). Where the tables print a margin of error, this page shows it beside the estimate, as for median household income, home value and rent.

The city figures are for Census place 1224300, Fort Pierce city, and the St. Lucie County tables give the county comparison. The Fort Pierce profile guide gives the headline numbers alongside city services, and the St. Lucie County pages cover the county as a whole.