Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #163 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Pompano Beach was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Its Register listings are the Sample Estate, the Sample-McDougald House and the Pompano Beach Mound. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1920.
Pompano Beach dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1920.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pompano Beach is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #163 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Pompano Beach ranks #305 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 Pompano Beach’s 0.3 sits above most of its state (68% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Pompano Beach’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.
Pompano Beach’s post office has been open since 1947. Another post office, Pompano, 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).
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pompano Beach.
The city's name is derived from the Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus), a fish found off the Atlantic coast.
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.
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Florida (FL) - Broward County - Pompano Beach - E…
Born hereEsther Rolle is born here
In the archive1928 Okeechobee Aftermath 23
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereEddie Jones is born here
In the archiveCorp2266 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library
Born hereLamar Jackson is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pompano Beach. 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 Pompano Beach.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pompano Beach’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 636 people in 1920 to 112,046 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pompano Beach’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1880, according to Wikidata. Pompano Beach’s post office opened in 1899, and the census of 1920 counted 636 people here.
Pompano Beach is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #163 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.
Three places: the Sample Estate (listed 1984), the Sample-McDougald House (2004) and the Pompano Beach Mound (2014).
0.3% of Pompano Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1928
1979
1979