Port St. Lucie’s rise as the nation’s fastest-growing large city points to a broader shift in Florida’s housing market: Buyers are still coming, but more are looking beyond the state’s costlier metropolitan areas for single-family homes they can afford.
The Treasure Coast city grew 3.5% between July 2024 and July 2025, reaching an estimated population of 268,062, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimates.
That was the highest percentage increase among the nation’s 91 cities with populations of at least 250,000, according to an analysis by MIAMI REALTORS + RWorld. It marked the fifth consecutive year that Port St. Lucie led that group.
The city’s population has increased by 61,274 residents, or 29.6%, since July 2020, giving it both the highest percentage increase and fourth-largest numeric gain among the nation’s largest cities over that period.
Port St. Lucie’s expansion has far outpaced the rest of the country. The U.S. population grew 0.5% during the latest one-year period and 3.1% over five years, according to the MIAMI REALTORS analysis.
The city was not the fastest-growing municipality of any size. Several smaller communities posted higher percentage gains. But among major cities capable of generating substantial housing and mortgage volume, Port St. Lucie stood alone.
For Florida loan originators, the important part of the story is not the ranking itself. Port St. Lucie has continued adding residents because it can still add single-family homes at prices below those found in many neighboring South Florida markets.
Florida’s Growth Is Becoming More Uneven
Port St. Lucie added 9,131 residents during the latest year, the seventh-largest numeric increase among the nation’s cities with populations of at least 250,000.
Its growth rate also surpassed Florida’s other large cities. Miami’s population increased 1.3%, followed by Jacksonville at 0.8%, Orlando at 0.4%, and Tampa at 0.1%.
St. Petersburg was the only Florida city with at least 250,000 residents to lose population, declining by 1,822 people, or 0.7%, during the latest year. Its population remained 1.8% higher than in July 2020.
Those differences show that Florida’s population growth is no longer lifting every major market at the same pace. Housing availability and cost are increasingly shaping where new residents land.
“Port St. Lucie has grown tremendously, but it still offers something buyers are having a harder and harder time finding in South Florida: space, value, and a real sense of community,” Amanda Geller, Treasure Coast Regional Board chair for MIAMI REALTORS + RWorld, said in an August housing-market report.
Domestic Migration Drives The Increase
Port St. Lucie accounted for approximately 84% of St. Lucie County’s population increase between July 2024 and July 2025.
The Census Bureau does not publish components of population change at the city level, but county data show that migration is driving the increase. St. Lucie County gained 10,857 residents during the year, including a net increase of 9,861 through domestic migration and 1,353 through international migration. Those gains offset a natural population decline caused by deaths exceeding births.
MIAMI REALTORS said earlier Internal Revenue Service migration data indicated that St. Lucie County was attracting residents from nearby Palm Beach, Broward, and Martin counties, along with retirees from New York and New Jersey.
Florida driver’s-license exchanges in St. Lucie County during the first quarter of 2026 increased 16% from New York and 25% from New Jersey compared with a year earlier, according to the association.
Florida’s lack of an individual state income tax, its climate, and Port St. Lucie’s lower housing prices are among the factors attracting residents. The city sits at the intersection of two migration trends: households moving to Florida from other states and South Florida residents moving north in search of less expensive housing.
A Lower Price Point, Not Low-Cost Housing
Port St. Lucie’s median single-family sale price was $400,000 in April, according to MIAMI REALTORS. That compared with approximately $650,000 in neighboring Palm Beach and Martin counties.
More recent county-level figures show the price difference remains. St. Lucie County’s median single-family sale price was $394,995 in July, up 2.6% from $385,000 a year earlier. Florida’s statewide single-family median was $425,000 during the same month.
That does not necessarily make Port St. Lucie inexpensive. A buyer’s monthly obligation must also absorb mortgage rates, property taxes, homeowners insurance, flood coverage when required, and possible homeowners association or community development district charges.
The lower purchase price nevertheless gives buyers and originators more room to structure a transaction than they may find farther south.
St. Lucie County recorded 517 single-family sales in July, up 2.4% from a year earlier. Total residential sales increased 4.2% to 599, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth, according to MIAMI REALTORS, MIAMI MLS, and BeachesMLS.
Those increases came with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate above 6.5% during July.
Buyers Still Face A Price-Sensitive Market
St. Lucie County had 2,271 active single-family listings at the end of July, down 8.2% from a year earlier. Its 4.9 months of single-family supply was below the six to nine months MIAMI REALTORS considers a balanced market.
But homes were taking longer to move. The median time between listing and contract increased to 63 days from 52 days a year earlier. Sellers received a median 96% of their original asking price.
The figures point to an active but price-sensitive market. Inventory is not excessive, yet buyers are taking longer to commit and retaining some negotiating room.
Cash represented 29.5% of all St. Lucie County residential sales in July, including 25.9% of single-family transactions. Most single-family purchases therefore remained dependent on financing.
New construction adds another layer. Port St. Lucie was originally developed around thousands of residential lots, while master-planned communities continue to add homes west of Interstate 95. Many new-construction and preconstruction transactions are not reported through the MLS, meaning existing-home sales reports do not capture the city’s entire purchase market.
Jobs Are Beginning To Follow Residents
Port St. Lucie’s growth is not solely a retirement or commuter story.
St. Lucie County posted the fastest private-employment growth in South Florida during 2025, increasing 2%, according to a MIAMI REALTORS analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Education and health services employment increased 7.4%, while professional and business services grew 7.6%.
The Southern Grove jobs corridor has attracted companies and institutions including Amazon, Cheney Brothers, Costco, FedEx, Keiser University, and Oculus Surgical, according to the city.
The employment figures do not yet establish that local job creation is keeping pace with population growth. Port St. Lucie residents had an average commute of 30.5 minutes during the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 measurement period, indicating that employment centers outside the city remain important.
Still, a larger local employment base could make the housing market less dependent on retirees, remote workers, and residents commuting to neighboring counties.
What It Means
Port St. Lucie’s population gains will not automatically translate into easy mortgage volume. Higher rates and Florida’s rising ownership costs can still prevent a borrower attracted by the purchase price from qualifying once insurance, taxes, and community fees are included.
The opportunity lies in the combination of population inflows, single-family inventory, new construction, and a median price below those of neighboring counties.
For originators, that could generate business from relocating households, new-construction buyers, builder partnerships, bridge transactions, and South Florida homeowners using equity from a previous sale to move north.
