Palm Coast’s Population Drops to 69,000 in Latest Census Estimate, Flagler’s to 85,600

In late September the Census Bureau released its annual community survey showing Flagler County’s population to have stalled at 91,600. That survey was based on more current but less precise figures. On Monday, the Census Bureau released its five-year survey of communities large and small across the country. It’s not the 2010 decennial Census data. That’s to be released later. But the five-year survey, the Census Bureau says, is the next-most precise set of numbers, and gives a strong indication of what those final data will be.

For Flagler County and Palm Coast, the five-year survey data reveals startling numbers: Flagler County’s population drops to 85,600, and Palm Coast’s population, which the city estimates at 74,000, drops to 69,000. The numbers have significant implications for the county’s and the city’s economic and political pull as federal funds and grants are closely tied to regions’ population. The numbers may also play a part in legislative and congressional redrawing of voting districts in Tallahassee this winter and spring.

The Census Bureau figures show an overall housing vacancy rate of 22.2 percent in the county, and 15.8 percent in Palm Coast. House-ownership rate has fallen below 80 percent in both. In Bunnell, by far the poorest city in the county, it’s below 60 percent. The median household income is $47,573 in the county, and about $1,000 higher in Palm Coast. It’s a mere $30,278 in Bunnell, where almost one in three resident lives below the poverty rate. The poverty rate in the county as a whole is 11 percent, but for children, it’s 19 percent, and in households led by single mothers, it’s 35.4 percent. In Bunnell, a staggering 90.8 percent of households led by single mothers are in poverty.

Other finding,s according to the Census Bureau: 12 percent of Flagler’s residents in 2005-2009 were foreign born. Eighty-eight percent was native, including 20 percent who were born in Florida. Among people at least five years old living in Flagler County during that period, 15 percent spoke a language other than English at home. Of those, 39 percent spoke Spanish and 61 percent spoke some other language; 40 percent reported that they did not speak English “very well.” Meanwhile, wanderlust may have slowed somewhat. Some 86 percent of the people at least one year old living in Flagler County were living in the same residence one year earlier; 5 percent had moved during the past year from another residence in the same county, 4 percent from another county in the same state, 5 percent from another state, and less than 0.5 percent from abroad.

The following chart sums up some of the survey’s main findings:

Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2005-2009)

Data Sets	Flagler County	Palm Coast	Flagler Beach	Bunnell
Population	85,623	69,000	5,225	2,916
Median age	47.7	45.5	55.7	35.4
Whites	86.6%	85.3%	96%	71.3%
Blacks	10.6%	11.7%	1.5%	27.4%
Hispanic	7.7%	8.5%	2.4%	11.6%
Asian	2.4%	2.6%	2.5%	0.4%
Total # of Housing Units	47,189	34,449	4271	1,196
Vacant Units (Percent)	10,471 (22.2%)	5,433 (15.8%)	2,799 (34.5%)	88 (7.4%)
Owner-Renter Occupied	79.1%-20.9%	78.5%-21.5%	77.6%-22.4%	57.6%-42.4%
Median Mortgage	$1,437	$1,403	$1,918	$1,305
Population in Labor Force	51.9%	53.3%	47.6%	52.7%
Median Household Income	$47,573	$48,672	$41,585	$30,278
Per Capita Income	$25,498	$24,226	$31,816	$14,493
Percentage of People in Poverty	11%	10.7%	11%	29.6%
Children in Poverty (Younger than 18)	19%	19%	7.9%	55%
Single-Mother Household Poverty Rate	35.4%	32.6%	35.1%	90.8%
Family Households (%)	72.4%	73.4%	58.8%	63.8%
Average Household Size	2.31	2.37	1.87	2.19
College graduate or higher	20.8%	20.3%	23.1%	10.3%
Foreign Born	12.2%	13.7%	5.4%	5.1%

Note: Race percentages don't work out to 100 percent because many respondents reported belonging to more than one race. The average household size is different from the average family size, which would be slightly higher.