Population, land area, and history-making numbers for Palm Beach County's largest city, county seat, and South Florida's oldest municipality.
Call (954) 290-5177, Free Estimate →West Palm Beach had a 2020 Census population of 117,415, with a Census Bureau estimate of 127,189 as of July 1, 2025, making it Palm Beach County's largest city and its county seat. It covers 53.82 square miles and incorporated on November 5, 1894, which makes it the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida, older than Miami. Median household income is $73,446 and the median owner-occupied home value is $414,200 per the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey (Census QuickFacts).
Two superlatives define West Palm Beach statistically. It is the largest city in Palm Beach County by population, and it is the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida, having incorporated on November 5, 1894, before Miami existed as a city. It is also the county seat, which concentrates courts, government offices, and the institutions that come with them.
The $73,446 median household income figure comes from the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, per Census QuickFacts, so it is a five-year blended estimate rather than a current-year snapshot. The same survey puts the median owner-occupied home value at $414,200, with an owner-occupied housing rate of 50.5 percent, the lowest of the county's big four cities and a marker of how much of the city rents. More importantly, a single citywide median hides enormous range. West Palm Beach contains waterfront condo towers, luxury redevelopment, historic districts, working-class neighborhoods, and suburban-style western subdivisions. Neighborhood-level conditions vary more here than in any other city in the county, and that applies to income, housing, and property condition alike.
At 53.82 square miles, the city stretches from the Lake Worth Lagoon waterfront, directly across from Palm Beach Island, to western communities near Grassy Waters Preserve. The Census Bureau's estimate of 127,189 residents as of July 1, 2025, growth of about 8.4 percent since 2020, continues a long growth trend, fed by downtown residential towers and continued redevelopment.
Add Brightline and Tri-Rail stations plus Palm Beach International Airport, and West Palm Beach functions as the transportation and civic hub for the entire county.
West Palm Beach is our home base, and its statistics are my daily workload. A city incorporated in 1894 with 120,000 residents has every pool condition that exists, hundred-year-old neighborhoods with mid-century pools, new construction, and everything between. No two visits here are the same job.
That variety is exactly why we document every detection visit. In a city this varied, the report matters as much as the find.
Leak and Subsurface Locators is based right here in West Palm Beach. Licensed CPC1457277. Free estimate before scheduling.
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