City · Lee County, Florida

Fort Myers, Florida

Fort Myers is a city in Lee County, Florida, part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL metro area. It has 95,051 residents. Fort Myers, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 31 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,773 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #537 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on new business applications (high), new homes permitted (high) and mammography screening (high). It ranks worst on rent-burdened households (high), hot days (high) and uninsured residents (under 65) (high).

31Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,773 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #537 of 780 in FL
Population: 95,051 (2020-2024)
Land area: 40 mi²
Density: 2,371.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 1224125

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 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.

Safety51#7,597/15,637
Economy33#10,539/15,631
Housing10#13,529/14,977
Health57#6,643/15,609
Healthcare29#11,091/15,650
Environment57#6,582/15,453
Education50#7,857/15,649
Infrastructure36#10,033/15,650
Community16#13,145/15,651
Leisure & amenities62#6,000/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Fort Myers, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Lee 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

New business applications · high24.7 /1k
95/100Florida 27.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauLee County value
New homes permitted · high16.6 /1k
94/100Florida 7.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Mammography screening · high55.0%
91/100Florida 46.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLee County value
Depression · low18.3%
90/100Florida 18.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Life expectancy · high81.0 yrs
89/100Florida 78.5 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLee County value
Comfortable days · high31.9%
86/100Florida 32.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLee County value

Weaknesses

Rent-burdened households · high62.0%
2/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Hot days · high126 days
3/100Florida 102 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLee County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high22.8%
3/100Florida 13.7%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.510
3/100Florida 0.485United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Natural hazard risk · high95.6
5/100Florida 75.92025Federal Emergency Management AgencyLee County value
Rent as share of income · high36.9%
5/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071

Trends

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

PopulationRising
79,927 (2015-2019) → 95,051 (2020-2024)
+19%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.8% (2015-2019) → 89.9% (2020-2024)
+9.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$46,409 (2015-2019) → $63,732 (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
54.8% (2015-2019) → 62.1% (2020-2024)
+7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedImproving
13.4 /1k (2021) → 16.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+23%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
32.9% (2015-2019) → 36.9% (2020-2024)
+4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Fort Myers, Florida improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 5. 6 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.

Improved3

Unemployment−1.2 points5.4% → 4.2%
Household income+37%$46,409 → $63,732
Broadband+9.1 points80.8% → 89.9%

Declined5

Uninsured+3.1 points19.7% → 22.8%
Price / income+0.9×5.1× → 6.0×
Rent / income+4 points32.9% → 36.9%
Rent burden+7.3 points54.8% → 62.1%
Transit use−1.2 points2.4% → 1.2%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Fort Myers, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.8 min2015-2019	25.2 min2020-2024	+0.4 min	Within the margin of error	42%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.7%2015-2019	32.0%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Broadband subscriptions	80.8%2015-2019	89.9%2020-2024	+9.1 points	Improved	55%
Child poverty rate	28.0%2015-2019	25.7%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Effective property tax rate	1.22%2015-2019	0.93%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	73%
High school diploma or higher	83.4%2015-2019	85.8%2020-2024	+2.4 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Home price to income ratio	5.1×2015-2019	6.0×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	27%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5122015-2019	0.5102020-2024	−0.001	Within the margin of error	52%
Median household income	$46,4092015-2019	$63,7322020-2024	+37%	Improved	69%
Poverty rate	16.8%2015-2019	16.3%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Public transit commuters	2.4%2015-2019	1.2%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Declined	17%
Rent as share of income	32.9%2015-2019	36.9%2020-2024	+4 points	Declined	27%
Rent-burdened households	54.8%2015-2019	62.1%2020-2024	+7.3 points	Declined	31%
Unemployment rate	5.4%2015-2019	4.2%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Improved	73%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	19.7%2015-2019	22.8%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Declined	18%

“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 Fort Myers, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Fort Myers, 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, Fort Myers, Florida itself moved −1.4 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

95,051 residents (±61)

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

38,364 households (±993)

Fort Myers, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k17%6,628
$25k–50k23%8,760
$50k–75k16%5,960

Homes

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

Owners and renters

38,364 households (±993)

Fort Myers, Florida
Florida share

Own49%18,825
Rent51%19,539

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

41,914 workers (±1,159)

Fort Myers, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone68%28,547
Carpool13%5,509
Public transit1.2%†486

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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers, 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 Lee County, the county holding most of Fort Myers's residents.

Lee County has 22,756 employer establishments, 269 for every 10,000 residents (1.08× the US rate of 248; 0.96× Florida's), with 264,855 paid employees at an average annual pay of $55,417. The Census Bureau also counts 114,704 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 22,756; 114,704 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 269; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 264,855
Average annual pay: $55,417; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	2,697	31.9	2.06×More than typical	25,169	$57,963	10,087
Lessors of real estate	1,861	22	1.79×More than typical	5,822	$56,311	12,361
Ambulatory health care services	1,770	20.9	1.00×About typical	20,352	$74,372	6,551
Restaurants and other eating places	1,317	15.6	0.85×About typical	28,185	$24,141	634
Services to buildings and dwellings	1,254	14.8	2.20×More than typical	8,243	$40,048	10,331
Real estate agents and brokers	1,134	13.4	2.75×More than typical	1,811	$83,144	4,936
Construction of buildings	1,052	12.4	1.64×More than typical	6,504	$78,560	5,386
Building finishing contractors	916	10.8	2.85×More than typical	5,494	$48,601	3,853
Building equipment contractors	889	10.5	1.75×More than typical	9,076	$63,932	2,174
Full-service restaurants	692	8.2	1.06×About typical	17,117	$26,900	262
Management, scientific and technical consulting	686	8.1	1.21×About typical	3,288	$71,375	3,512
Offices of physicians	608	7.2	1.11×About typical	8,712	$88,676	648

Rank places for an industry Open Lee County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 846,125 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 $9.5M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Fort Myers, Florida: $100 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $9.5M; +15% vs FY2025
Per resident: $100; US $1,995
Sole-source: 3.7%; US 30%
Single offer: 42%; 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

Public Buildings Service$6.7M70%
Defense Logistics Agency$2M21%
Social Security Administration$382.3K4.0%
Consumer Product Safety Commission$106K1.1%
Department of Veterans Affairs$90.8K1.0%
U.S. Coast Guard$79.6K0.8%
U.S. Secret Service$54.8K0.6%
Department of the Navy$40.3K0.4%

Top recipients

ELEVATED TECHNOLOGIES SERVICES, LLC$3.5M37%
TJR PROCUREMENT, LLC$1.9M20%
ROSS GROUP CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, LLC$1.6M17%
PROCON CONSULTING LLC$1.2M12%
FEDERAL TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS LLC$382.3K4.0%

Spending by fiscal year

2.5MFY2017
3.3MFY2018
7.5MFY2019
4.8MFY2020
2.4MFY2021
2.4MFY2022
253.3MFY2023
17.5MFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Building equipment contractors · 2382$3.5M37%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.7M18%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$1.2M12%
Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$705.1K7.4%
Electrical equipment manufacturing · 3353$647.1K6.8%
Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing · 3341

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Fort Myers, Florida

DESIGN BUILD SERVICES AT THE FORT MYERS FEDERAL BUILDING AND U.S. COURTHOUSE FOR THE HURRICANE IAN REPAIR PROJECT LOCATED AT 2110 FIRST ST, FORT MYERS, FL 33901-3019$15.7M
ROSS GROUP CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, LLC· Lee County, FL· Construction & real property· Jul 5, 2024 – Jul 22, 2026· 47PE0324F0008
NOS, NGS SHORELINE MAPPING PROJECT FL2310-TB-C AND FL2311-TB-C, LIDAR AND IMAGERY COLLECTION, PROCESSING AND SHORELINE MAPPING IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA.$4.1M
DEWBERRY ENGINEERS INC.· Lee County, FL· Construction & real property· Aug 17, 2023 – Nov 6, 2025· 1305M223FNCNL0431
ELEVATOR MODERNIZATION AT FT MYERS, FL$3.6M
ELEVATED TECHNOLOGIES SERVICES, LLC· Lee County, FL· Construction & real property· Aug 7, 2026 – Aug 7, 2026· 47PH5326F0049

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 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 Fort Myers, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Fort Myers, Florida's figures are part of those of Lee County, FL ($114.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 8.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Fort Myers is mostly in Lee County.

See federal money in Lee 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.

Fort Myers, Florida is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Lee County60100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL63

Other cities and towns in Lee 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
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
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/1224125

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends