The U.S. Census Bureau released its Vintage 2025 population estimates this week, and the headline is a national slowdown in city and town growth between July 2024 and July 2025. Florida, however, continues to show up across the country’s top growth and gainer lists, with Central Florida emerging as the clear driver of the state’s momentum.

Central Florida Dominates the State’s Growth Rankings

Every one of Florida’s five fastest-growing incorporated places (with populations of 20,000 or more) sits in the Central Florida region:

1. Haines City (Polk County): +10.0% to 45,973 residents, ranked #6 nationally
2. Bartow (Polk County): +6.4% to 23,617
3. St. Cloud (Osceola County): +5.7% to 74,960
4. Apopka (Orange County): +5.5% to 65,552
5. Palm Bay (Brevard County): +4.8% to 148,092

Haines City was the only Florida city to land in the nation’s top 15 fastest-growing places by percent change. The concentration of growth across Polk, Osceola, Orange, and Brevard counties points to the I-4 corridor and Space Coast continuing to absorb households relocating from larger metros.

Port St. Lucie and Jacksonville on the Biggest-Gainers List

Two Florida cities outside Central Florida made the top 15 for largest numeric increase in residents between 2024 and 2025:

• Port St. Lucie added 9,131 residents (#9 nationally), reaching 268,062.
• Jacksonville added 8,319 (#12 nationally), crossing 1,017,689 and holding its place as the 11th most populous city in the country.

Both gains came during a year when big-city growth slowed sharply across the Northeast and even cooled across much of the South.

What This Means for Florida CRE

The Vintage 2025 release reinforces a few things commercial real estate professionals are already watching across the state:

• Central Florida’s midsized cities are absorbing growth that used to flow primarily to coastal mega-metros, with Polk County alone producing two of the state’s top five fastest-growing cities.
• The “outer ring” growth pattern showing up nationally (smaller cities outpacing the central cities of their own metros) has clear Florida parallels, especially across the I-4 corridor.

Looking to position your business or investment in Central Florida’s growth corridor? Connect with LQ Commercial‘s team to discuss site selection, market data, and opportunities across the I-4 corridor and Space Coast.

LQ Commercial | Research | research@lqre.com | lqcre.com/research

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates (released May 14, 2026)