5 Interesting Stats About Jacksonville’s Residents

Did you know that around 20,000 homes occupied in Jacksonville were built before 1939? Or that 89% of Jaxsons have at least a high school degree?

There are all kinds of interesting things you can learn about Jacksonville – or any city – by looking at data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. And much of that data is available to the public, free of charge.

Reading census data can tell you a lot about a city’s residents – what kind of housing they live in, where they’re originally from, how much money they make, and so much more.

Here are just a few interesting statistics about Jacksonville that are readily available through the Census Bureau – and some thoughts on what they tell us about our city and its residents. All data is accurate up to 2017 – so while the exact numbers have probably changed a bit by now, it still provides a fairly up-to-date portrait of the city’s demographics.

MEDIAN AGE: 35.8

Did you know that Jaxsons are, on average, younger than the rest of the country?

The median age of Jacksonville’s population is 35.8 years old. That’s a little over two years younger than the median age of the United States as a whole. 35% of the city’s population is between 20 and 44 years old.

And while those numbers don’t represent a major increase over the past – in fact, our median age is up a tiny bit from 2010 – they show that at a time when the national average age is rising thanks to increased life expectancies and lower birth rates, Jax is still attracting a younger population.

VETERAN POPULATION: 12%

It should come as no surprise that Jacksonville has a significant population of U.S. military veterans. After all, the Navy has long held a significant presence in the city, as have other branches at various times.

Veterans make up 12% of our city’s population; to put that in perspective, the national average is 7.6%. There are also over 7,000 veteran-owned businesses that operate in Jacksonville.

Duval County the second-largest veteran population in Florida, surpassed only by Hillsborough County.

FOREIGN-BORN JAXSONS: 10.6%

Part of what makes Jacksonville great is how many different cultures are represented here.

10.6% of Jaxsons were born outside of the U.S., with Asia and Latin America being the two most prominent areas of origin.

The city has Florida’s largest Filipino population, with over 25,000 Filipinos living in Jax.

The majority of foreign-born Jaxsons have made the decision to stay in the U.S., with just under 55% having since become U.S. citizens.

ACCESS TO CAR: 93.8%

Unlike some other big cities’ residents, Jaxsons are extremely dependent on automobiles.

93.8% of households in Jacksonville have access to a car – something that often feels like a necessity in such a sprawling city.

And, as you’d imagine, very few Jaxsons utilize public transit to get to work. 80% of Jacksonville workers commute to work in a car by themselves; another 10% utilize a carpool. But less than 4% use public transit.

HOUSES BUILT AFTER 2000: 32.1%

Just over 32% of the occupied houses in Jacksonville were built after the turn of the century.

This statistic, more than any other, shows how much the city has grown in the past fifteen to twenty years. Dozens of new master-planned communities and multi-family apartment complexes have popped up around town in areas that were once dedicated to farming or timberland.

With plenty of untouched land remaining and the city continuing to grow quickly, expect this percentage to rise quickly over the next ten years or so.