Port St. Lucie, Florida Population 2023

Port St. Lucie is located on the eastern coast of southern Florida in St. Lucie County about halfway between Miami and Orlando. Port St. Lucie is part of the Miami - Fort Lauderdale - Port St. Lucie Combined Statistical Area which has a population of nearly 6.8 million.

Diversity

Port St. Lucie is a multi-ethnic and diverse community with a foreign-born population of more than 18%. About 25% of households speak a language other than English at home. The most common languages other than English spoken in Port St. Lucie include Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Haitian Creole.

Population Growth

Port St. Lucie’s growth has slowed since the 1990s and 2000s. Still, Port St. Lucie is expected to continue growing thanks to its modest home prices and the rising costs of neighboring Palm Beach County. The future population growth of Port St. Lucie will be fueled by younger families as well as baby boomers with numerous 55+ communities already in the works in western Port St. Lucie. In 2018, Port St. Lucie was named as one of the top 50 metropolitan areas with the largest net increases in population due to migration.

Port St. Lucie was a largely undeveloped and uninhabited area prior to the 1950s with just a few businesses and farms. In 1958, the General Development Corporation, once Florida’s largest land development company, bought the River Park development and land along St. Lucie River. GDC constructed a bridge over the river that finally allowed direct vehicle access to Port St. Lucie. GDC further developed the area with water and sewer plants, roads, landfills, basic amenities, and housing tracts. Port St. Lucie was incorporated as a city in 1961 with more than 250 homes.

By the 1990s, Port St. Lucie was growing rapidly. Core Communities bought and developed West St. Lucie, creating not only homes but also business sectors. In 2006, Core Communities developed the Tradition community, a massive 13 million square foot commercial area with space for 18,000 homes. Tradition remains one of the largest entitled residential development areas in the Uited States. Between 2000 and 2010 alone, Port St. Lucie’s population almost doubled from 88,000 to 164,000.