Migration and new residents — Sebastian, Florida

About 7 percent of Sebastian residents arrived from outside Indian River County within the prior year in Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 estimates: 4.3 percent from another state, 2.6 percent from another Florida county and 0.2 percent from abroad.

Applied to Sebastian's 26,105 residents age 1 and over in the ACS 2020-2024 table S0701 for Sebastian city, those three shares add to 7.1 percent, or roughly 1,850 newcomers a year (26,105 times 0.071 is 1,853). The out-of-state share alone works out to about 1,120 people (26,105 times 0.043). Another 3.6 percent moved from a different home within Indian River County, so about 10.7 percent of Sebastian residents changed address in the year before they were surveyed. The column codes in the Census file are labeled in the S0701 variable list.

Sebastian's out-of-state share is higher than the Indian River County figure of 3.3 percent and the Florida figure of 2.9 percent, while its share arriving from other Florida counties is lower than the county's 3.8 percent. These Sebastian and county figures are point estimates whose ranges overlap (the city's out-of-state share is 4.3 percent plus or minus 1.4 points, the county's 3.3 percent plus or minus 0.6), so the city-county gap is not statistically firm.

Yes: the share of Sebastian residents who had lived in another state a year earlier rose from 1.9 percent in ACS 2015-2019 to 4.3 percent in ACS 2020-2024, and the two estimates' error ranges do not overlap.

The ACS 2015-2019 table for Sebastian put the out-of-state share at 1.9 percent with a margin of 0.7, a range of 1.2 to 2.6 percent; the 2020-2024 table gives 4.3 percent with a margin of 1.4, a range of 2.9 to 5.7 percent. Because the ranges do not touch, the rise is larger than sampling error. The Florida-county share moved the other way, from 4.1 to 2.6 percent, but its margins of 1.5 and 1.3 points overlap, so that drop cannot be told apart from noise.

Sebastian residents who moved in from another state had a median age of 41.8 in ACS 2020-2024, against 58.4 for all Sebastian residents age 1 and over, but the movers' figure carries a margin of error of 22.9 years.

That margin is wide enough that the Sebastian age gap is not statistically clear. In the Sebastian S0701 table, out-of-state movers have a median age of 41.8, while the Indian River County table gives 56.9 (margin 2.5) for the county's out-of-state movers and 55.6 for all county residents. Florida-wide, out-of-state movers have a median age of 36.5 against 43.0 for the state's population (Florida S0701).

Housing tenure shows a similar split, with the same caution. Among Sebastian residents living in renter-occupied homes, 8.7 percent moved from another state in the prior year, compared with 3.6 percent of residents in owner-occupied homes (S0701, housing tenure rows); the renter figure has a margin of error of 7.0 points, so that difference is not statistically clear either. Countywide the two shares are 4.2 and 3.1 percent. Home turnover and move-in years are covered on the Sebastian market trends pages, and part-year residents on the seasonal residents page.

St. Lucie County is the largest single source of new Indian River County households, with 809 tax returns covering 1,421 people moving in between the 2022 and 2023 filing years, followed by Brevard, Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Origin data of this kind exist only at county level. The Internal Revenue Service builds these counts from individual income tax returns filed and processed in calendar years 2022 and 2023 and publishes them by county and state in its 2022-2023 migration data release; it does not break them down to cities, so no public source says how many of these households settled inside Sebastian city limits rather than in Vero Beach, Fellsmere or the unincorporated county. The counts cover only people on filed income tax returns, so households that do not file are not included.

The rows come from the IRS Florida workbook: St. Lucie at row 2118, Brevard at row 2119, Palm Beach at row 2120, Broward at row 2121, Miami-Dade at row 2122 Martin at row 2123, Orange at row 2124 and Suffolk at row 2125. Florida neighbors dominate: in total, 2,949 returns covering 4,886 people moved into Indian River County from elsewhere in Florida (IRS same-state total), and just 34 returns arrived from abroad (IRS foreign total).

Movers from other states filed 2,971 returns covering 4,978 people that came into Indian River County in 2022 to 2023, with Suffolk County, New York, the largest single out-of-state source at 89 returns.

The IRS different-state total is close to the 2,949 returns from inside Florida, so roughly half of all incoming filers came from out of state (2,971 of 5,954 returns, or 49.9 percent). Most out-of-state households arrived from counties too small to list on their own. The IRS groups those into regional other flows: 738 returns from the Northeast (row 2161), 425 from the Midwest (row 2162), 876 from the South (row 2163) and 338 from the West (row 2164). Named northern origins after Suffolk County (row 2125) include the Western Connecticut Planning Region (row 2130) and Cook County, Illinois (row 2137).

Out-of-state arrivals reported far more income per return. The different-state row lists $557,123 thousand of adjusted gross income on 2,971 returns, about $187,500 per return (557,123 divided by 2,971), while the same-state row lists $238,470 thousand on 2,949 returns, about $80,900 per return (IRS row 2115; row 2114). These are county figures for Indian River County as a whole, not Sebastian.

Yes: Indian River County gained 5,954 incoming returns covering 9,930 people in 2022 to 2023 while 5,026 returns covering 7,962 people left, a net gain of 928 returns and 1,968 people.

The totals come from the IRS inflow total and outflow total. With other states the county gained 547 returns: 2,971 came in and 2,424 left (IRS outflow to other states). Brevard County runs the other way, taking 622 Indian River County returns while sending 438, so the county loses households to Brevard (outflow to Brevard). St. Lucie sends 809 and receives 545, a net gain of 264 returns from St. Lucie (outflow to St. Lucie).

The out-of-state pull eased between the two most recent IRS years. In 2021 to 2022, 3,701 returns covering 6,287 people moved into Indian River County from other states (IRS 2021-2022 Florida file); a year later the figure was 2,971, a drop of 730 returns or about 20 percent (730 divided by 3,701).

Population totals are consistent with that net inflow. The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research lists Indian River County at 159,788 in the 2020 Census and 173,013 in its 2025 estimate, an 8.3 percent increase, with a projection of 184,569 for 2030 (EDR Indian River County profile). Its residence-one-year-ago table gives the county 3.8 percent from another Florida county and 3.3 percent from another state, the same ACS shares shown above.