Census-designated place · Seminole County, Florida

Fern Park, Florida

Fern Park is a census-designated place in Seminole County, Florida, part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metro area. It has 7,981 residents. Fern Park, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 64 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,641 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #165 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on math scores (high), reading scores (high) and distance to an airport (low). It ranks worst on public libraries (low), rent-burdened households (high) and rent as share of income (high).

64High

Quality-of-life score: #5,641 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #165 of 780 in FL
Population: 7,981 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 3,996.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1222250

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety68#5,062/15,637
Economy47#8,264/15,631
Housing2#14,642/14,977
Health83#2,706/15,609
Healthcare35#10,196/15,650
Environment73#4,205/15,453
Education80#3,135/15,649
Infrastructure63#5,717/15,650
Community58#6,643/15,651
Leisure & amenities78#3,482/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Fern Park, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Seminole County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Math scores · high3.48
96/100Florida 3.28United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSeminole County value
Reading scores · high3.40
95/100Florida 3.17United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSeminole County value
Distance to an airport · low9 mi
94/100Florida 21 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauSeminole County value
Comfortable days · high34.5%
94/100Florida 32.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSeminole County value
New business applications · high22.1 /1k
94/100Florida 27.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauSeminole County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low110 min
92/100Florida 158 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSeminole County value

Weaknesses

Public libraries · low0.1 /10k
1/100Florida 0.2 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesSeminole County value
Rent-burdened households · high71.0%
1/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Rent as share of income · high45.3%
5/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high19.6%
8/100Florida 13.7%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Hot days · high103 days
9/100Florida 102 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSeminole County value
Home price to income ratio · high5.8×
12/100Florida 4.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
8,694 (2015-2019) → 7,981 (2020-2024)
−8.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
56.1% (2015-2019) → 71.0% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.7× (2015-2019) → 5.8× (2020-2024)
+60%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
35.3% (2015-2019) → 45.3% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
12.7% (2015-2019) → 19.6% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
86.9% (2015-2019) → 92.1% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Fern Park, Florida improved on 0 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 11 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Price / income+2.2×3.7× → 5.8×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Fern Park, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	28.6 min2015-2019	24.8 min2020-2024	−3.7 min	Within the margin of error	84%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.9%2015-2019	36.2%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Broadband subscriptions	86.9%2015-2019	92.1%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Effective property tax rate	0.80%2015-2019	0.59%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	60%
High school diploma or higher	95.6%2015-2019	91.3%2020-2024	−4.3 points	Within the margin of error	7%
Home price to income ratio	3.7×2015-2019	5.8×2020-2024	+2.2×	Declined	3%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4442015-2019	0.4712020-2024	+0.027	Within the margin of error	29%
Median household income	$60,1992015-2019	$59,4282020-2024	−1.3%	Within the margin of error	7%
Poverty rate	10.9%2015-2019	12.5%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Rent as share of income	35.3%2015-2019	45.3%2020-2024	+10 points	Within the margin of error	9%
Rent-burdened households	56.1%2015-2019	71.0%2020-2024	+15 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Unemployment rate	5.2%2015-2019	3.4%2020-2024	−1.8 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.7%2015-2019	19.6%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Within the margin of error	6%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Fern Park, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Fern Park, Florida in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Fern Park, Florida itself moved −10.9 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

7,981 residents (±1,011)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

3,587 households (±373)

Fern Park, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k14%†520
$25k–50k28%†997
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

3,587 households (±373)

Fern Park, Florida
Florida share

Own64%2,282
Rent36%1,305

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

4,428 workers (±710)

Fern Park, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone69%3,065
Carpool12%†540
Public transit0.2%†

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Seminole County, the county holding most of Fern Park's residents.

Seminole County has 14,897 employer establishments, 306 for every 10,000 residents (1.23× the US rate of 248; 1.09× Florida's), with 193,461 paid employees at an average annual pay of $58,649. The Census Bureau also counts 58,658 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 14,897; 58,658 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 306; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 193,461
Average annual pay: $58,649; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Seminole County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,340	27.5	1.32×More than typical	11,645	$62,064	2,833
Specialty trade contractors	1,158	23.8	1.53×More than typical	14,876	$61,478	3,029
Lessors of real estate	941	19.3	1.57×More than typical	2,998	$58,515	5,947
Restaurants and other eating places	891	18.3	1.00×About typical	18,206	$22,854	265
Services to buildings and dwellings	613	12.6	1.87×More than typical	4,835	$36,070	3,613
Management, scientific and technical consulting	605	12.4	1.85×More than typical	3,660	$74,940	2,244
Construction of buildings	462	9.5	1.25×More than typical	3,523	$89,504	1,656
Real estate agents and brokers	459	9.4	1.93×More than typical	660	$50,783	1,933
Offices of physicians	454	9.3	1.44×More than typical	4,090	$86,887	445
Offices of other health practitioners	447	9.2	1.51×More than typical	2,179	$41,190	1,349
Insurance agencies and brokerages	432	8.9	2.02×More than typical	4,504	$78,827	1,188
Limited-service restaurants	418	8.6	1.07×About typical	8,195	$18,686	88

Rank places for an industry Open Seminole County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 487,504 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Fern Park, Florida: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

HANKS, JASON C$00.0%
CAPITAL REPORTING COMPANY, LLC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

126.2KFY2017
50.2KFY2018
58.3KFY2019
34.6KFY2020
448.8KFY2021
16.6KFY2023
-12KFY2024
0FY2026

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Fern Park, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Fern Park, Florida's figures are part of those of Seminole County, FL ($92.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Fern Park is mostly in Seminole County.

See federal money in Seminole County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Fern Park, Florida is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Cory MillsR-FL-7 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 6.7%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Seminole County85100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL68

Other cities and towns in Seminole County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1222250

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends