Jacksonville Population History

Jacksonville city grew from 57,699 people in the 1910 Census to 949,611 in 2020, with the 1968 consolidation with Duval County as the turning point.

The Census Bureau's historical tables of the 100 largest urban places carry Jacksonville from 1910 through 1990 with its population, land area and national rank at each count (Census Working Paper 27). Jacksonville does not appear in the 1900 table of the 100 largest places (Table 13, 1900), so 1910 is the first year the series covers. Later counts come from the decennial census tables for Jacksonville city (Census 2000; Census 2010; Census 2020).

Rows for 1910 to 1990 come from Tables 14 through 22 of the working paper (1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990); the current land area is from the 2024 Florida place gazetteer. The 1910 to 1960 figures describe the old city before Jacksonville and Duval County merged; every figure from 1970 on describes the consolidated city.

In the Census Bureau's historical tables, Jacksonville was Florida's largest listed city from 1910 through 1940, lost the lead to Miami in 1950, and regained it after consolidation in 1970.

Jacksonville is the only Florida city in the 1910 and 1920 tables of the 100 largest places (Table 14; Table 15). In 1930 it ranked 63rd with 129,549 people, ahead of Miami at 110,637 and Tampa at 101,161 (Table 16). The 1940 race was close: Jacksonville ranked 47th with 173,065 and Miami 48th with 172,172 (Table 17).

Miami pulled ahead after that. The 1950 table puts Miami 42nd with 249,276 and Jacksonville 49th with 204,517 (Table 18), and by 1960 Tampa had passed Jacksonville too, with Miami at 291,688, Tampa at 274,970 and Jacksonville at 201,030 (Table 19). Consolidation reversed the order at once: the 1970 table shows Jacksonville 23rd with 528,865, Miami 42nd with 334,859 and Tampa 50th with 277,767 (Table 20).

Jacksonville still leads by a wide margin. In the Vintage 2025 estimates, Jacksonville city (place code 35000) stood at 1,017,689 on July 1, 2025, against 489,812 for Miami (place code 45000) and 413,554 for Tampa (place code 71000) (Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates; place codes per the Florida place gazetteer).

Consolidation moved the Jacksonville city line out to almost the whole of Duval County, lifting the census count from 201,030 in 1960 to 528,865 in 1970.

Residents of Jacksonville and Duval County approved the merger in August 1967 with 65 percent of the votes cast, and Consolidation Day came on October 1, 1968 (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office history). The Census Bureau's 1970 table lists the new city at 766.0 square miles and 690 people per square mile, against 30.2 square miles and 6,657 per square mile in 1960 (Table 20; Table 19). Most of the 1960s jump was a change of boundary, not of people.

The Bureau's 1998 working paper names Jacksonville, FL (1970-1990) among five consolidated cities whose populations include at least 90 percent and sometimes 100 percent of their parent counties (Census Working Paper 27). The first decade inside the new line was slow, a gain of about 12,000 to 540,920 by 1980, but by 1990 Jacksonville had 635,230 people and ranked 15th in the country (Table 21; Table 22).

Four parts of Duval County are still outside the city count. The City of Jacksonville's government directory lists the City of Atlantic Beach, City of Jacksonville Beach, City of Neptune Beach and Town of Baldwin as separate local governments (City of Jacksonville, Government). Census tables for Jacksonville city leave those four out, which is why the city count stays a little below the Duval County total.

The old city of Jacksonville stopped growing because its boundary stopped moving, at 30.2 square miles from 1940 through 1960.

Between 1910 and 1940 the city's land area more than tripled in the Census tables, from 9.3 square miles to 15.4 in 1920, 26.4 in 1930 and 30.2 in 1940, and its population tripled with it, from 57,699 to 173,065 (Table 14; Table 17). After 1940 the Jacksonville line held still. The population inside it rose to 204,517 in 1950 and then slipped to 201,030 in 1960 (Table 18; Table 19).

Density inside that fixed line tells the same story. It went from 5,731 people per square mile in 1940 to 6,772 in 1950 and then eased to 6,657 in 1960, while Jacksonville fell from 47th to 61st in the national ranking. Over the same two decades Miami grew from 172,172 to 291,688 and Tampa from 108,391 to 274,970 (Table 17; Table 19), helped in Tampa's case by a land area that grew from 19.0 to 85.0 square miles.

Jacksonville city grew from an April 2020 estimates base of 949,607 to 1,017,689 on July 1, 2025, about 7.2 percent, and crossed one million in the July 2024 estimate.

The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 subcounty file gives a Jacksonville estimate for each July (Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates; columns per the file layout). The largest single-year gains came in 2022 and 2023, when the city added about 19,500 and then 19,000 residents; growth slowed to about 13,100 in the year to July 2024 and about 8,300 in the year to July 2025.

The estimates base of 949,607 differs by four people from the 2020 Census count of 949,611 (Census 2020); the Census Bureau's file notes say the base reflects Count Question Resolution and group quarters reviews, geographic revisions and disclosure avoidance (SUB-EST2025 notes), so both figures are official and each serves its own purpose. Jacksonville's five-year ACS profile for 2020 to 2024 averages 977,670 residents (ACS 2020-2024 DP05).

The 2020 Census counted 949,611 people in Jacksonville city, 995,567 in Duval County and 1,605,848 in the five-county Jacksonville metro area.

Those counts come from the same 2020 redistricting table (Jacksonville city; Duval County; Jacksonville metro), so the city was about 95 percent of Duval County and about 59 percent of the metro. By July 1, 2025 the Census Bureau estimated Duval County at 1,062,963 (Vintage 2025 county estimates), with Jacksonville city making up about 96 percent of it. The county first passed one million in the July 2021 estimate, at 1,003,124, three years before the city did.

The ACS 2020-2024 profile adds texture to the Jacksonville count: 14.9 percent of city residents were 65 or older (ACS DP05, Jacksonville city), and owner-occupied homes had a median value of $293,700 (ACS DP04, Jacksonville city). Those are averages for the five-year period, not single-year figures, and they describe the consolidated city only, without the Beaches or Baldwin.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the Census Bureau's 1998 large-cities tables for 1900 through 1990, the 2000, 2010 and 2020 census tables for Jacksonville city, the Vintage 2025 city and county estimates, the 2024 place gazetteer and the ACS 2020-2024 Jacksonville profiles, plus the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office history and the City of Jacksonville government directory.