Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #276 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Palm Coast was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Its Register listings are the Mala Compra Plantation Archeological Site and the Dixie Highway-Hastings, Espanola and Bunnell Road. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1980.
Palm Coast dates its founding to 1969 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1980.
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Palm Coast is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #276 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Palm Coast ranks #365 on History.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Palm Coast’s 0.2 sits above most of its state (67% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Palm Coast’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Palm Coast’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Palm Coast.
In the late 1950s, most of the land that would become Palm Coast consisted of swamp and pine forest, with only a few farms and beach houses as well as a turpentine distillery. Business activity was concentrated along Florida State Road 100. Tourists paid fees to hunt and fish in the area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Palm Coast. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Palm Coast.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 2,837 people in 1980 to 89,258 in 2020, more than tenfold.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Palm Coast’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Palm Coast itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Neoga, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1969, according to Wikidata. Palm Coast’s post office opened in 1891, and the census of 1980 counted 2,837 people here.
Palm Coast is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #276 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the Mala Compra Plantation Archeological Site (listed 2004) and the Dixie Highway-Hastings, Espanola and Bunnell Road (2005).
0.5% of Palm Coast’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2003.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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