St. Johns Is Florida's Fastest-Growing County, Adding 36 People a Day, as Northeast Florida Passes 2 Million

St. Johns County is the fastest-growing county in Florida. It added about 13,000 people in a single year, roughly 36 new residents a day, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Duval County is growing too, but more slowly. And together, the seven counties of Northeast Florida have now passed 2 million people for the first time.

Here's what the numbers show, county by county, and where all the new people are coming from.

The big numbers

2020 is the Census Bureau's April 1, 2020, estimates base. 2025 is its July 1, 2025, estimate.

The headline: St. Johns County, about one-third the size of Duval, has added more people than Duval since 2020: 72,902 compared with 67,394.

St. Johns: No. 1 in Florida, top 5 in the country

St. Johns County grew 26.7% from 2020 to 2025. That's the fastest growth of any county in Florida, ahead of Osceola (23.9%), Walton (23.9%) and St. Lucie (22.2%).

It also led Florida over the past year, growing 3.9% from 2024 to 2025.

Nationally, among the 604 counties that had at least 100,000 people in 2020, St. Johns ranked fifth for growth since 2020. The only faster-growing counties were:

1. Kaufman County, Texas: 44.0%
2. Rockwall County, Texas: 30.5%
3. Comal County, Texas: 29.6%
4. Brunswick County, N.C.: 27.8%
5. St. Johns County, Fla.: 26.7%

St. Johns also ranked fifth among those counties for growth in the latest single year.

St. Johns, year by year

The county has added 12,000 to 16,000 people every year since 2020.

Where St. Johns' growth comes from

Almost all of it is people moving in from elsewhere in the U.S. In the year ending July 1, 2025:

That's 96.6% of the county's growth from people moving in from other parts of the country. Births (2,612) barely outpaced deaths (2,486).

Duval: steady growth, from births and immigration

Duval County passed 1 million people early in the decade and reached 1,062,963 in 2025. It grew 0.8% in the latest year, adding 8,231 people, or about 23 a day.

Duval's growth looks very different from St. Johns'. In the year ending July 1, 2025:

So almost none of Duval's growth last year came from Americans moving in from other counties. The number of people moving in from elsewhere in the U.S. and the number moving out nearly canceled each other out, with a net gain of just 101. Duval grew because of births (12,962 babies, compared with 9,647 deaths) and international immigration.

Duval, year by year

Duval's growth peaked in 2022 and 2023 and has slowed since.

Jacksonville is now the 11th-largest city in America

The city of Jacksonville had an estimated 1,017,689 people in 2025. (That's the consolidated city, which doesn't include Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach or Baldwin.)

• Jacksonville passed 1 million in the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate (1,009,370).
• It's the 11th-largest city in the U.S. in 2025, just behind Fort Worth, which grew past Jacksonville last year, and just ahead of Austin.
• Jacksonville is still Florida's largest city by far.
• Among U.S. cities with at least 500,000 people, Jacksonville's 7.2% growth since 2020 ranks fifth, behind Fort Worth, Charlotte, Raleigh and San Antonio.

The whole region passes 2 million

JAXUSA, the region's economic development group, counts seven counties as Northeast Florida. Here's how each one grew:

The seven counties together reached 2,003,594 people, passing the 2 million mark. They've added 209,033 people since 2020, nearly as many as the entire population of Clay County in 2020 (218,249).

The Jacksonville metro area, which the government defines as five counties (Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns), reached 1,785,500. That's up 11.2% since 2020, or about 72 new residents a day over the past year.

Cities: St. Augustine and Palm Coast grow, the Beaches hold steady

The three Beaches cities are slightly smaller than in 2020. With little open land left to build on, they can't add many new homes. Most of the region's growth is happening in newer suburbs, like northwest St. Johns County, where there's room to build.

What all this growth means

• Schools: fast growth means more students. St. Johns County schools have been building new campuses to keep up.
• Traffic: more people means more cars on I-95, I-295, State Road 9B and the First Coast Expressway.
• Housing: demand from new residents pushes home prices and rents higher, especially in St. Johns.
• Business: more residents means more customers, more workers and more new stores and restaurants.

Quick answers

What is the population of Jacksonville in 2025?
The city of Jacksonville had an estimated 1,017,689 people on July 1, 2025. All of Duval County had 1,062,963.

What is the fastest-growing county in Florida?
St. Johns County, up 26.7% from 2020 to 2025, and up 3.9% in the latest year.

How fast is St. Johns County growing?
It added 12,994 people from July 2024 to July 2025, about 36 people a day.

Is Jacksonville the largest city in Florida?
Yes. It's the 11th-largest city in the U.S.

How many people live in Northeast Florida?
About 2 million in the seven counties of Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns, and about 1.79 million in the five-county Jacksonville metro area.

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