Volusia, Flagler counties under U.S. median household income: Where does your city rank?

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's research park has brought high-income jobs to Daytona Beach, but the area still lags behind the nation in annual household income.

All but three Volusia and Flagler county cities and towns trail the U.S. annual median household income, as does Florida, the most recent census data show.

The American Community Survey uses one-year data from 2022 and is compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau every year.

It shows the U.S. median household income is $74,755, with Florida trailing at $69,303. If you go by county, Flagler tops the state with $71,211, but Volusia lagged, at $64,857. Here’s a look at the cities and towns with the highest and lowest median incomes the region.

A small child carries a stuffed sea turtle at the Marine Science Center's annual Turtle Day in Ponce Inlet, which boasts the Volusia-Flagler area's highest median income.

Highest income: Ponce Inlet

This enclave, at the end of a peninsula straddling the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway, has long been home to some of Volusia County’s wealthiest residents. The 2022 ACS puts Ponce Inlet’s median household income at $98,125, highest in the two-county area. With a population of just under 3,400, Ponce Inlet has a well-kept, historic lighthouse and museum, Lighthouse Point Park with its 1,000-foot paved fishing jetty, waterfront restaurants, and the Marine Science Center.

Lake Helen, with open spaces and its namesake lake, has attracted new homeowners who have boosted the city's median household income.

Next highest: Lake Helen

Surprisingly, Lake Helen’s median household income was $91,861. This was a 57% jump from the previous year in this historic, rural enclave between Deltona and DeLand with no stoplights. The city’s population, 2,836, added only nine people from the previous year. So why the huge boost?

Mayor Vernon Burton said the city had a subdivision, Woods of Lake Helen, which sat largely dormant for about 10 years. “It’s only been within the last three years when the better market came out and we built almost 100 houses,” he said. “We always prided ourselves on keeping the charm of Lake Helen. That’s why a lot of people like to come to Lake Helen, the open spaces, the parks, the lake. It’s a good place to live with nice schools.”

This conceptual image shows what the northern part of the Main Street development in DeBary could look like.

DeBary, with its SunRail stop and future Main Street, is No. 3

The only other area city above the U.S. median income is DeBary, at $83,678. Volusia County’s southwestern-most city is developing a downtown near its SunRail station, where commuters can ride by train to work in Orlando and other points south.

And the rest…

Here’s a list of other cities and household median incomes, all below the national average: Oak Hill, $73,350; Deltona, $73,115; New Smyrna Beach, $73,096; DeLand, $71,439; Palm Coast, $68,434; Daytona Beach Shores, $65,334; Ormond Beach $65,238; Port Orange, $65,026; Flagler Beach, $64,242; Edgewater, $56,886; South Daytona, $54,878; Pierson, $50,179; Orange City, $49,681; and Bunnell, $42,831.

Holly Hill City Hall, which is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, was built using Works Progress Administration Labor in the early 1940s.

Lowest income levels in Holly Hill

Holly Hill, a city of about 6,000 centered along U.S. 1 and tucked between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach qualifies as having the lowest median income in the Volusia-Flagler area at $40,908 in the 2022 estimate. Still, it was a nearly 10% jump from 2021.

While Pictona, the pickleball complex across the street from City Hall, has perked up the community, Holly Hill was hurt in 2021 when Florida Health Care Plans moved its headquarters from Ridgewood Avenue to Daytona Beach. The building is being razed to make way for a new three-story, self-storage structure.