Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Fort Pierce grades D− overall, 581st of 634 graded towns in Florida, mostly because of health and incomes. Residents are less healthy than 94% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The median household income is $47K, and 26% of residents live below the poverty line. One bright spot: it has 7 miles of trail. 26% of residents live below the poverty line in Fort Pierce, against 11% in Florida’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Fort Pierce is home to Indian River State College. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 90% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top.
Where Fort Pierce beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Zora Neale Hurston House is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,333 in 1910, 47,297 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1949 on.
11 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Fort Pierce is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fort Pierce. Close and well known come first.
5 mi MuseumNational Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
8 mi Stadium & arenaFirst Data Field
in town MuseumA. E. Backus Gallery & Museum
18 mi MuseumElliott Museum27K visitors a year
13 mi GardenMcKee Botanical GardenNational Navy UDT-SEAL Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · First Data Field: JoeCondon, Public domain · A. E. Backus Gallery & Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Elliott Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · McKee Botanical Garden: Robert Lawton, CC BY 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fort Pierce, 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 Fort Pierce.
Fort Pierce draws workers from Port St. Lucie and beyond and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has poverty well above the Florida rate.
31% of Fort Pierce adults say their health is fair or poor. Fort Pierce beats the Florida average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 22. 19% of Fort Pierce adults have diabetes.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 20% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 15% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 14% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Fort Pierce | FL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 8.1% | 9.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 17.7% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the St. Lucie school district. Three of its 28 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Grove Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 855 | C |
| Fort Pierce Central High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 3,178 | C− |
| Fairlawn Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 653 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within FL on state tests and graduation
31,345 jobs are based in Fort Pierce, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Fort Pierce’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Fort Pierce has added 6,972 jobs, to 31,345 in 2023. The top destinations are Port St.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 24% | 5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $47,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
807 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 130 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1979, 807 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fort Pierce.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical value, about $275K, is 8% below its March 2024 peak.
The typical Fort Pierce home is worth about $275,000, down 1.1% in a year, 27% below the Florida typical home. 50% of households own their home in Fort Pierce.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 50% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,217 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
January nights average 54.1°, milder than in 99% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 89.9°. The Ft Pierce weather station records that about 70 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 83% of Florida places with climate records.
Fort Pierce has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The January low in Fort Pierce is 54°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 54°F | 51°F | 22°F |
| July high | 90°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fort Pierce's reported crime rate is well above Florida's. Fort Pierce’s violent crime rate is 4.3 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.3 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.8 per 1,000 residents | 12.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
6.8 miles of trail in 22 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Savannas Recreation Area, 634 acres with 1.2 miles of trail.
| Fort Pierce | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.4% | 3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Savannas Recreation Area | 1.2 mi | 634 |
| 2. Veteran's Memorial Park | 0.9 mi | 15 |
| 3. Museum Pointe Park | 0.8 mi | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Fort Pierce
About 3 of every 100 Fort Pierce residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
11 places in Fort Pierce on the National Register of Historic Places.
28 notable people were born in Fort Pierce.
City in Florida, United States
Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. An hour north of West Palm Beach, the city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is also known as the Sunrise City. Per the 2020 census, the population was 47,297.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Fort Pierce.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Pierce | #581 | D− | C | — | B− | D |
| Fort Pierce North | #439 | C− | B+ | — | B− | D |
| Fort Pierce South | #548 | D | C+ | — | B− | C |
| White City | #420 | C− | C− | — | B− | C+ |
| Indian River Estates | #586 | D− | C | — | B− | C− |
| St. Lucie Village | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Fort Pierce, Fort Pierce North, Fort Pierce South, White City and Indian River Estates report no FBI crime data of their own. St. Lucie Village isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Fort Pierce with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Fort Pierce grades D− overall, better than 4% of U.S. towns and #581 of 634 in Florida. It grades D for health and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.7 years of the area's median household income ($74,514 across the Port St. Lucie, FL metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
28 notable people were born here, including Larry Sanders and Ricou Browning.
