City · Gulf County, Florida

Port St. Joe, Florida

Port St. Joe is a city in Gulf County, Florida. It has 3,616 residents. Port St. Joe, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 31 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,834 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #543 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on new homes permitted (high), restaurants and bars (high) and comfortable days (high). It ranks worst on rent-burdened households (high), rent as share of income (high) and natural hazard risk (high).

31Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,834 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #543 of 780 in FL
Population: 3,616 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 386.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 1258675

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety34#10,388/15,637
Economy50#7,738/15,631
Housing15#12,755/14,977
Health45#8,629/15,609
Healthcare10#14,025/15,650
Environment38#9,655/15,453
Education50#7,794/15,649
Infrastructure22#12,254/15,650
Community62#5,889/15,651
Leisure & amenities76#3,819/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Port St. Joe, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Gulf 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 homes permitted · high37.3 /1k
98/100Florida 7.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Restaurants and bars · high16.9 /10k
97/100Florida 9.6 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGulf County value
Comfortable days · high35.1%
95/100Florida 32.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationGulf County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low105 min
94/100Florida 158 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGulf County value
Job growth · high2.6%
92/100Florida 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataGulf County value
New business applications · high20.7 /1k
91/100Florida 27.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauGulf County value

Weaknesses

Rent-burdened households · high84.6%
1/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Rent as share of income · high51.0%
2/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071At least this value: the publisher's top bracket is open-ended
Natural hazard risk · high98.1
2/100Florida 75.92025Federal Emergency Management AgencyGulf County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high174 mi
3/100Florida 27 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauGulf County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Florida 6.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyGulf County value
Firearm deaths · high24.1 /100k
7/100Florida 12.6 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataGulf County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
53.4% (2015-2019) → 84.6% (2020-2024)
+31 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
31.0% (2015-2019) → 51.0% (2020-2024)
+20 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.5× (2015-2019) → 6.4× (2020-2024)
+82%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
21.2% (2015-2019) → 35.6% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Child poverty rateWorsening
8.8% (2015-2019) → 15.7% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedImproving
28.8 /1k (2021) → 37.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+30%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

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, Port St. Joe, Florida improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 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.

Improved1

Bachelor's++14 points21.2% → 35.6%

Declined2

Price / income+2.9×3.5× → 6.4×
Rent / income+20 points31.0% → 51.0%

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Port St. Joe, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.5 min2015-2019	17.6 min2020-2024	−1.8 min	Within the margin of error	69%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%2015-2019	35.6%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	97%
Broadband subscriptions	83.1%2015-2019	88.4%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Effective property tax rate	0.62%2015-2019	0.60%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	19%
High school diploma or higher	92.8%2015-2019	89.7%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	10%
Home price to income ratio	3.5×2015-2019	6.4×2020-2024	+2.9×	Declined	1%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3662015-2019	0.4082020-2024	+0.042	Within the margin of error	20%
Median household income	$52,0922015-2019	$55,5422020-2024	+6.6%	Within the margin of error	13%
Poverty rate	6.5%2015-2019	9.8%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	19%
Rent as share of income	31.0%2015-2019	51.0%2020-2024	+20 points	Declined	2%
Rent-burdened households	53.4%2015-2019	84.6%2020-2024	+31 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.8%2015-2019	11.4%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	52%

“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 Port St. Joe, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Port St. Joe, 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, Port St. Joe, Florida itself moved −14.7 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

3,616 residents (±23)

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

1,678 households (±131)

Port St. Joe, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k15%†245
$25k–50k30%†507
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,678 households (±131)

Port St. Joe, Florida
Florida share

Own82%1,370
Rent18%†308

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,327 workers (±207)

Port St. Joe, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone68%907
Carpool23%†308
Public transit0.0%0

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 Gulf County, the county holding most of Port St. Joe's residents.

Gulf County has 405 employer establishments, 257 for every 10,000 residents (1.03× the US rate of 248; 0.91× Florida's), with 2,779 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,034. The Census Bureau also counts 1,601 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 405; 1,601 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 257; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 2,779
Average annual pay: $40,034; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	50	31.7	2.05×More than typical	248	$40,685	131
Restaurants and other eating places	42	26.6	1.45×More than typical	611	$23,867	6
Lessors of real estate	32	20.3	1.65×More than typical	88	$47,136	256
Ambulatory health care services	21	13.3	0.64×Fewer than typical	122	$63,910	38
Construction of buildings	19	12.1	1.59×More than typical	62	$64,871	70
Full-service restaurants	18	11.4	1.49×More than typical	349	$25,132	—
Building equipment contractors	17	10.8	1.79×More than typical	105	$43,267	14
Real estate agents and brokers	16	10.1	2.09×More than typical	25	$54,120	74
Religious organizations	16	10.1	1.83×More than typical	92	$23,391	—
Limited-service restaurants	14	8.9	1.11×About typical	207	$22,802	—
Building finishing contractors	12	7.6	2.00×More than typical	42	$32,857	48
Services to buildings and dwellings	12	7.6	1.13×About typical	31	$37,097	280

Rank places for an industry Open Gulf County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 15,767 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 $696.3K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Port St. Joe, Florida: $193 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $696.3K; −61% vs FY2025
Per resident: $193; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement$696.3K100%

Top recipients

CONTINUITY GLOBAL SOLUTIONS LLC$696.3K100%
MLU SERVICES, LLC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

83.6FY2017
1.6KFY2018
650.2KFY2019
86.3KFY2020
-27.4KFY2021
-36.1KFY2022
78.4KFY2024
1.8MFY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Investigation and security services · 5616$696.3K100%

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 Port St. Joe, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Port St. Joe, Florida's figures are part of those of Gulf County, FL ($6.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 11% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Port St. Joe is mostly in Gulf County.

See federal money in Gulf 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.

Port St. Joe, Florida is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Neal P. DunnR-FL-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 18.4%

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.

Gulf County42100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Gulf County

Largest first.

Wewahitchka211,884

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/1258675

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends