Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,025, settled in 1911.
Fellsmere gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $242K, 3.3 years of the Sebastian metro’s $73K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 53rd of 634 graded towns in Florida. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top, and the median household income is $56K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 79% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Basin 22 Mitigation Bank, at 2,120 acres. Only 63 of Florida’s 779 towns score higher on history. Fellsmere is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 81% of U.S. towns.
Where Fellsmere beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Fellsmere’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Fellsmere is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 333 in 1920, 4,834 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1940 and 3 maps from 1949 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fellsmere, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 17, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Fellsmere.
Fellsmere pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns.
Among 638 Florida towns, just 7 have a higher FEMA risk score than Fellsmere. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Fellsmere since 2004.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its A− for schools comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $242K.
Its public schools are run by the Indian River school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fellsmere Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 605 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within FL on state tests and graduation
At 8.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 91% of Florida’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 38 to 19 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Fellsmere’s violent crime rate is 0 per 1,000 residents, below both the Florida town median (2.1) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). The property crime rate in Fellsmere is 3.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 12.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The median property tax bill is $891, against $2,730 across Florida, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Fellsmere’s median rent is $1,158 a month. The typical Fellsmere home is worth about $242,000, up 2.9% in a year, 35% below the Florida typical home.
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,158 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 74% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Fellsmere for work: only 12% work in town. Since 2013, Fellsmere has added 129 jobs, to 899 in 2023. The top destinations are Vero Beach (9%), Palm Bay (4%) and Sebastian (4%).
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 5% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
23 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves.
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Basin 22 Mitigation Bank | — | 2,120 |
| 2. Fellsmere Stormwater Park | — | 27 |
| 3. St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park | 0.2 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 7,693 U.S. towns with household incomes like Fellsmere’s, it is healthier than 59%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
Fellsmere beats the Florida average on 7 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 33% of Fellsmere adults worry about having enough food. Only 7 of the 636 Florida towns we compare have a lower share of adults who had a checkup this year than Fellsmere.
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 15% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 79% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | Fellsmere | FL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4% | 9.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17.8% | 26.6% |
| More uninsured adults | 33.7% | 15.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 50.9°, milder than in 99% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 90.4°. The Vero Beach 4se weather station, 13 miles away, records that about 56 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 92% of Florida places with climate records.
Fellsmere has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Fellsmere | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 51°F | 51°F | 22°F |
| July high | 90°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fellsmere. Close and well known come first.
25 mi MuseumNational Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
30 mi Stadium & arenaFirst Data Field
35 mi Zoo & aquariumBrevard Zoo
16 mi GardenMcKee Botanical Garden
28 mi MuseumAmerican Muscle Car MuseumNational Navy UDT-SEAL Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · First Data Field: JoeCondon, Public domain · Brevard Zoo: Rusty Clark from merritt usland FLA, CC BY 2.0 · McKee Botanical Garden: Robert Lawton, CC BY 2.5 · American Muscle Car Museum: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 4.0
None within 15 miles of Fellsmere; the nearest are
About 8 of every 100 Fellsmere residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
5 places in Fellsmere on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Florida, United States
Fellsmere is a city in Indian River County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Sebastian–Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,834 at the 2020 census. It is home of the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival and was home to the now closed National Elephant Center. Fellsmere is the first place in Florida where women were allowed to vote. In a municipal election on June 19, 1915, resident Zena M. Dreier became the first woman to legally cast a ballot in the American South, five years before the 19th Amendment established women's suffrage nationally. On November 16, 2023, historic rainfall hit Fellsmere and surrounding areas causing significant flooding in the city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Fellsmere.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fellsmere | #53 | B+ | A− | A− | A− | C |
| West Vero Corridor | #313 | C | C | — | A− | B |
| Vero Lake Estates | #136 | B− | C+ | — | A− | B |
West Vero Corridor and Vero Lake Estates report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Fellsmere with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Fellsmere grades B+ overall, better than 69% of U.S. towns and #53 of 634 in Florida. It grades C for health, A− for safety and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
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