Indian River County, Florida

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county

Indian River County (Template:Langx) is a county located in the southeastern and east-central portions of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 159,788.<ref name="QF">Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref> Its seat is Vero Beach.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> It is Florida's 7th richest county and in 2000 was the 87th richest county in the U.S. by per capita income.<ref>Florida locations by per capita income</ref>

Indian River County comprises the Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The MSA was first defined as the Vero Beach, Florida MSA in 2003. It was renamed Sebastian-Vero Beach, Florida MSA in 2005, and Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, Florida MSA in 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The MSA is included in the Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Combined Statistical Area.

History

Prior to 1821, the area of Indian River County was part of the Spanish colony of East Florida. In 1822, this area became part of St. Johns County, and in 1824 it became part of Mosquito County (original name of Orange County).

The Second Seminole War was fought in 1835 and from 1838 to 1839. Fort Vinton was built for this purpose near the intersection of present-day Florida State Road 60 and 122nd Avenue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1844, the county's portion of Mosquito County became part of newly created St. Lucia County. In 1855, St. Lucia County was renamed Brevard County. In 1905, St. Lucie County was formed from the southern portion of Brevard County; in 1925 Indian River County was formed from the northern portion of St. Lucie County.<ref>According to the Historical Records and State Archives Surveys published by Florida Works Progress Administration (available in the digital historical maps of Florida section of the UF library) and the Indian River County Historian Ruth Stanbridge</ref> It was named for the Indian River, which runs through the eastern portion of the county. In 2025, Indian River County celebrated its centennial for turning 100 years old.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2023 Floods

On November 16 and 17, 2023, extreme rainfall struck northern Indian River County, causing severe flooding. Fourteen inches of rain fell in Fellsmere, and eleven inches of rain fell in Vero Lake Estates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hurricane History

Indian River County's location in East Central Florida makes it a very prone location to impacts from Hurricanes.

2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Template:See also Template:See also Indian River County experienced devastating effects from the 2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

On September 5, 2004, the county was affected by the category 2 landfall of Hurricane Frances. [1] There was wide spread power outages, flooding, and high winds.

Only 21 days later, on September 26, 2004, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall near Indian River County as a category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds. A special Tornado Warning was issued (precursor to the Extreme Wind Warning) for Indian River County due to the right eye wall of the storm striking hitting the county. A 122 mph wind gust was reported in Vero Beach, and 116 mph wind gust was reported in Sebastian.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:FEMA - 11375 - Photograph by Mark Wolfe taken on 09-28-2004 in Florida.jpg

Extreme Beach Erosion in Vero Beach due to Hurricane Jeanne

“Catastrophic” beach erosion occurred on the beaches of the county after 6-8 feet of storm surge was caused by Jeanne.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Widespread flooding occurred, which resulted in the closure of all barrier island bridges being closed. One fatality was caused when an elderly woman was attempting to evacuate her home in Indian River Shores. An F1 tornado touched down in West Vero Corridor causing $34,000 (2025 USD) in damage.

A staggering $3.4 billion+ (2025 USD) of damage was inflicted on Indian River County alone, easily making the storm the costliest and most destructive hurricane in Indian River County history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Template:See also On November 10, 2022, Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mostly minor damage was reported, however, the iconic Jaycee Beach and Humiston Beach boardwalks sustained significant damage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hurricane Milton

Template:See also

File:Milton 2024-10-09 1624-1642Z KTBW radar loop.gif

Hurricane Milton spawning tornado outbreak in Florida on October 9

On October 9, 2024, as Hurricane Milton approached Florida, Indian River County was part of a prolific tornado outbreak spawned by Milton.

Several strong tornadoes hit the county including the Lakewood Park - Vero Beach EF3 tornado. Severe damage occurred in the Bethel Creek neighborhood of Vero Beach with homes sustaining heavy damage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Numerous other tornadoes also touched down in the county, with two EF1 tornadoes hitting Downtown Vero Beach within the span of 20 minutes, causing extensive damage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An EF2 tornado touched down farther west near Blue Cypress Lake. In total, six tornadoes struck the county.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Flooding from Hurricane Milton in Vero Beach, Florida.webm

Flash Flooding in Vero Beach

Flooding from Hurricane Milton

Torrential rainfall also occurred from Milton, causing flash flooding in the county.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to preliminary reports, 9.41 inches of rain fell in around 3 hours in Vero Beach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A flash flood warning was issued at 7PM EDT for most of eastern Indian River County due to ongoing flooding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (18.5%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref> Indian River County is the ninth-smallest county in Florida by area.

Adjacent counties

Brevard County - north
St. Lucie County - south
Okeechobee County - southwest
Osceola County - northwest

National protected areas

Climate and birds

Eight bird species in Indian River County are listed as "highly vulnerable" to climate change:

Red-headed woodpecker
Gray kingbird
Fish crow
Brown thrasher
Eastern towhee
Boat-tailed grackle
Snail kite
Yellow-throated warbler<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bodies of Water

Demographics

Template:US Census population

**Indian River County racial composition as of 2020**
(NH = Non-Hispanic)Template:Efn
Race	Pop 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	% 2010	% 2020
White (NH)	106,780	117,422	77.36%	73.49%
Black or African American (NH)	12,074	13,079	8.75%	8.19%
Native American or Alaska Native (NH)	277	273	0.2%	0.17%
Asian (NH)	1,646	2,341	1.19%	1.47%
Pacific Islander (NH)	49	52	0.04%	0.03%
Some Other Race (NH)	189	730	0.14%	0.46%
Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)	1,548	5,059	1.12%	3.17%
Hispanic or Latino	15,465	20,832	11.2%	13.04%
Total	138,028	159,788

File:2023 Racial Demographics in Indian River by Census tract.svg

A map of the racial demographics of Indian River County, Florida by Census tractTemplate:Collapsible list

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 159,788 people, 60,959 households, and 37,647 families residing in the county.

As of the census<ref name="GR8">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2000, there were 112,947 people, 49,137 households, and 32,725 families residing in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 57,902 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the county was 87.43% White, 8.19% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.15% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. 6.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 49,137 households, out of which 21.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.50% were married couples living together, 8.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.40% were non-families. 28.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.72.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 19.20% under the age of 18, 6.00% from 18 to 24, 22.30% from 25 to 44, 23.30% from 45 to 64, and 29.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 93.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.80 males.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The median income for a household in the county was $39,635, and the median income for a family was $46,385. Males had a median income of $30,870 versus $23,379 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,227. About 6.30% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.60% of those under age 18 and 5.70% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Airports

New Hibiscus Airpark<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sebastian Municipal Airport
Vero Beach Regional Airport

Bus systems

Template:Main article GoLine is Indian River County's main method of public transportation. The program was introduced in 1994 to provide an alternative option to driving. Due to County population increases in the early and mid 2000s, Indian River County devised a series of bus routes from Barefoot Bay in southern Brevard County to the south end of Vero Beach. In 2006, GoLine (formerly known as Indian River Transit) was introduced with more stops along and through the Treasure Coast. By 2010, the GoLine system had a total of 14 stops with an additional four stops planned for 2011/2012. Riders pay no fare or fee to board the bus. In 2010 the buses operated between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. weekdays and from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Saturdays. Some routes have extended operating hours depending on location.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>http://www.golineirt.com/GoLineGuide.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF</ref>

Train

Amtrak began planning to add service along the east coast of Florida, including a station in Vero Beach, in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, Amtrak announced that it hoped to start service over the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) line in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The All Aboard Florida project (now Brightline) was also announced in 2012, and now operates over part of the FEC track that Amtrak intended to use, but does not stop anywhere in Indian River County.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Florida East Coast Railway serves a team yard in Vero Beach for off-line customers that don't have direct rail service via spurs. There are two lumber and sheetrock/structural steel customers who receive boxcars, center beam and bulkhead flatcars, and occasionally- gondolas, at the team yard.<ref>http://www.irmpo.com/Documents/Amtrak.pdf Template:Webarchive Template:Bare URL PDF</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Major roads

Economy

Healthcare, education, government, and retail sales are important employment segments in Indian River County. Template:As of (some numbers have not been updated since 2019), the largest employers in the county were:

Employer	Sector	Employees
School Board of Indian River County	Education	2,234
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital	Healthcare	2,027
Indian River County	Government (including constitutional offices)	1,455
Publix Super Markets	Retail	1,380
Piper Aircraft	Manufacturing	1,100
Walmart	Retail	806
Sebastian River Medical Center	Healthcare	750
John's Island	Residential development and resort	495
Indian River Estates	Retirement community	486
Visiting Nurse Association	Healthcare	500
City of Vero Beach	Government	328
CVS Warehouse	Distribution	440
Disney's Vero Beach Resort	Resort	279
St. Edward's School	College-preparatory school	223
City of Sebastian	Government	188
Skyborne Airline Academy	Flight instruction	170
B & W Quality Growers	Agriculture	142

<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Libraries

Template:Main

Indian River County Main Library, in Vero Beach
North Indian River County Library, in Sebastian
The Brackett Library, at the Indian River State College Mueller Campus, in Vero Beach

Education

Indian River County School District operates the public schools of Indian River County.

Elementary Schools

Liberty Magnet Elementary School
North County Charter School
Sebastian Elementary School
Pelican Island Elementary School
Treasure Coast Elementary School
Fellsmere Elementary School
Beachland Elementary School
Indian River Academy<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Glendale Elementary School
Vero Beach Elementary School
Rosewood Magnet School
Osceola Magnet School
Imagine School

Middle Schools

Storm Grove Middle School
Sebastian River Middle School
Gifford Middle School
Oslo Middle School
Sebastian Charter Junior High School<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Imagine School

High Schools

Private schools

Glendale Christian School
Indian River Christian School
Master's Academy
St. Edwards School
St. Helen Catholic School
Tabernacle Baptist School
The Willow School
SunCoast Primary School

Colleges and universities

Indian River State College Mueller Center
Indian River State College Sebastian Campus

Elections

Indian River County lies at the northern end of a belt stretching to Collier County in the southwest that was the first part of Florida to politically distance itself from the "Solid South": the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.<ref>Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016</ref> Only four Democrats have managed 40 percent or more of the county's vote since then.

Voter registration

According to the Secretary of State's office, Republicans are a plurality of registered voters in Indian River County.

Indian River County Voter Registration & Party Enrollment as of July 31, 2022<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Political Party		Total Voters	Percentage
Template:Party color cell	Republican	57,050	48.24%
Template:Party color cell	Democratic	30,487	25.78%
Template:Party color cell	No party affiliation	28,005	23.68%
Template:Party color cell	Minor parties	2,717	2.30%
Total		118,259	100.00%