The Port St. Lucie metropolitan area ranked fourth in the fastest year-over-year growth and is among the top five metropolitan regions in Florida, holding the number four spot, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The metropolitan area, which includes St. Lucie and Martin counties, grew by 3% or 16,028, to 536,091 from July 1 to July 1, 2023. The previous year, the Port St. Lucie metro area ranked eighth, with a 3.3% growth, according to published data.
The city of Port St. Lucie holds the majority of the population with 231,790 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Fort Pierce has 48,305 and Stuart has 18,253.
Broken down by county, St. Lucie had 373,586 in 2023 and Martin had 163,315.
The fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country was the retirement area of Wildwood-The Villages with a 4.7% growth to 151,565.
Other Florida metropolitan areas among the top five: Lakeland-Winter Haven in second place with a 3.8% growth to 818,330 and Ocala with a 3.4% growth to 409,959.
The area outside of Florida is Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina in third place with a 3.7% growth to 397,478.
Florida, which is the third most populous state with a population of 22,610,726, has three major metropolitan areas that added nearly 150,000 residents from 2022 to 2023: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (54,916 to 2,817,933); Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (51,622 to 2,817,933); and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (43,387 to 6,183,199). These are the metropolitan areas with the largest numerical increases, ranking fourth, fifth, and tenth nationally, respectively.
Specifically, Palm Beach County has 1,533,801, up from 1,519,867 in a year; Broward has 1,962,531 from 1,946,889, and Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, has 2,686,867 from 2,673,056.
In other counties, the population of Indian River is 169,715, up from 167,267 in a year, and Okeechobee is 41,427 from 40,373. These counties are their own statistical areas.
There is also a combined region that includes Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Treasure Coast, and Okeechobee with a population of 6,949,522 in the official 2020 census.
“Population growth in Florida’s metropolitan areas underscores a broader trend of widespread population growth across the South. The fastest-growing region in the country and home to the 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. between 2022 and 2023,” wrote the Census Bureau. “The growth continued a pattern that was already evident the previous year, when eight of the 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas were in the South.”
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, had the largest increase with 152,598, followed by Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands with 139,789. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell in Georgia added 68,585.
Approximately 60% (1,876) of U.S. counties saw population increases between 2022 and 2023.
“More U.S. counties experienced population increases than losses in 2023, as counties in the South saw faster growth and more counties in the Northeast and Midwest turned population losses into gains. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 Vintage population estimates and components of change, released today.”
The three most populous regions: New York-Newark-Jersey City (19,498,249); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (12,799,100); and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (9,262,825).
Image: Wflx
