Census-designated place · Miami-Dade County, Florida

Sunset, Florida

Sunset is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL metro area. It has 13,535 residents. Sunset, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 66 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,355 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #146 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on depression (low), new business applications (high) and frequent mental distress (low). It ranks worst on rent-burdened households (high), mammography screening (low) and hot days (high).

66High

Quality-of-life score: #5,355 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #146 of 780 in FL
Population: 13,535 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 3,855.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 1269812

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.

Safety38#9,633/15,637
Economy80#3,069/15,631
Housing1#14,763/14,977
Health91#1,361/15,609
Healthcare48#8,125/15,650
Environment44#8,555/15,453
Education75#3,945/15,649
Infrastructure82#2,747/15,650
Community47#8,217/15,651
Leisure & amenities90#1,461/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sunset, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Miami-Dade 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

Depression · low13.4%
100/100Florida 18.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
New business applications · high48.4 /1k
99/100Florida 27.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMiami-Dade County value
Frequent mental distress · low13.4%
97/100Florida 18.7%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Distance to an emergency room · low2.7 mi
97/100Florida 4.8 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMiami-Dade County value
Broadband subscriptions · high98.4%
96/100Florida 91.6%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Access to exercise opportunities · high98.5%
94/100Florida 87.8%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami-Dade County value

Weaknesses

Rent-burdened households · high66.1%
1/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Mammography screening · low29.0%
2/100Florida 46.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami-Dade County value
Hot days · high118 days
5/100Florida 102 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationMiami-Dade County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,359 /100k
5/100Florida 3,204 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami-Dade County value
Flu vaccinations · low29.0%
7/100Florida 40.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami-Dade County value
Rent as share of income · high35.3%
7/100Florida 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.

PopulationFalling
15,871 (2015-2019) → 13,535 (2020-2024)
−15%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
90.7% (2015-2019) → 98.4% (2020-2024)
+7.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$84,552 (2015-2019) → $109,401 (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent as share of incomeImproving
40.0% (2015-2019) → 35.3% (2020-2024)
−4.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
High school diploma or higherImproving
86.9% (2015-2019) → 91.4% (2020-2024)
+4.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateImproving
13.4% (2015-2019) → 9.1% (2020-2024)
−4.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

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, Sunset, Florida improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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.

Improved2

Household income+29%$84,552 → $109,401
Broadband+7.7 points90.7% → 98.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Sunset, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	33.6 min2015-2019	34.4 min2020-2024	+0.8 min	Within the margin of error	38%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.2%2015-2019	41.8%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Broadband subscriptions	90.7%2015-2019	98.4%2020-2024	+7.7 points	Improved	48%
Effective property tax rate	0.97%2015-2019	0.76%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	60%
High school diploma or higher	86.9%2015-2019	91.4%2020-2024	+4.5 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Home price to income ratio	4.6×2015-2019	5.5×2020-2024	+0.9×	Within the margin of error	26%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5012015-2019	0.4992020-2024	−0.002	Within the margin of error	53%
Median household income	$84,5522015-2019	$109,4012020-2024	+29%	Improved	54%
Poverty rate	13.4%2015-2019	9.1%2020-2024	−4.3 points	Within the margin of error	77%
Rent as share of income	40.0%2015-2019	35.3%2020-2024	−4.7 points	Within the margin of error	82%
Rent-burdened households	69.7%2015-2019	66.1%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Unemployment rate	3.8%2015-2019	2.4%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.4%2015-2019	8.5%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	46%

“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 Sunset, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sunset, 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, Sunset, Florida itself moved +4.4 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

13,535 residents (±1,164)

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

4,983 households (±392)

Sunset, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k14%677
$25k–50k17%†833
$50k–75k7.5%†373

Homes

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

Owners and renters

4,983 households (±392)

Sunset, Florida
Florida share

Own77%3,839
Rent23%1,144

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

7,097 workers (±830)

Sunset, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone75%5,304
Carpool9.1%†649
Public transit0.8%†55

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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, 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 Miami-Dade County, the county holding most of Sunset's residents.

Miami-Dade County has 98,394 employer establishments, 352 for every 10,000 residents (1.42× the US rate of 248; 1.25× Florida's), with 1,055,440 paid employees at an average annual pay of $67,834. The Census Bureau also counts 828,607 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 98,394; 828,607 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 352; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 1,055,440
Average annual pay: $67,834; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	9,260	33.1	1.59×More than typical	77,707	$67,251	64,260
Lessors of real estate	6,563	23.5	1.91×More than typical	23,280	$65,641	79,358
Restaurants and other eating places	5,257	18.8	1.02×About typical	95,526	$30,723	7,278
Management, scientific and technical consulting	4,932	17.7	2.63×More than typical	20,059	$99,138	22,183
Specialty trade contractors	4,477	16	1.04×About typical	29,390	$56,020	50,417
Legal services	4,470	16	2.98×More than typical	21,675	$136,835	5,119
Offices of physicians	3,217	11.5	1.78×More than typical	33,286	$86,204	4,849
Offices of other health practitioners	2,819	10.1	1.66×More than typical	9,472	$47,584	20,602
Real estate agents and brokers	2,543	9.1	1.87×More than typical	4,735	$79,778	14,672
Full-service restaurants	2,529	9.1	1.18×About typical	56,170	$35,321	3,761
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	2,323	8.3	2.04×More than typical	11,690	$80,600	8,106
Construction of buildings	2,009	7.2	0.95×About typical	10,379	$78,098	33,016

Rank places for an industry Open Miami-Dade County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 2,793,511 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 $45.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sunset, Florida: $3.37 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $45.6K; +226% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.37; US $1,994
Sole-source: 99%; 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

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration$45.2K99%
Department of the Navy$5111.1%

Top recipients

PAR-CON, INC.$37.7K83%
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY$6,57514%
BOEING DISTRIBUTION SERVICES X, INC.$5111.1%
X-CLEAN CORP$3380.7%
A-TEAM ENERGY SERVICES, INC.$2630.6%

Spending by fiscal year

178.8KFY2017
11.7KFY2018
18.2KFY2019
9.4KFY2020
150KFY2021
-25.2KFY2022
134.1KFY2023
38.5KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonresidential building construction · 2362$37.7K83%
Investigation and security services · 5616$6,57514%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$5471.2%
Other general purpose machinery manufacturing · 3339$5111.1%
Building equipment contractors · 2382$4551.0%

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 Sunset, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Sunset, Florida's figures are part of those of Miami-Dade County, FL ($1.1B 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: Sunset is mostly in Miami-Dade County.

See federal money in Miami-Dade 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.

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

House

County

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

Miami-Dade County60100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL66

Other cities and towns in Miami-Dade 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/1269812

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends