The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The Population of Avon Park, 1886–2024

Summary

The federal census has counted Avon Park as a town of its own since 1920, when it found 890 people inside the limits fixed by the charter of 1913. The count doubled to 3,355 in the boom decade, fell back to 3,125 in the Depression, rose to 4,612 by 1950 and 6,073 by 1960, passed 8,000 by 1980 and stood at 8,836 in 2010; the Bureau’s estimates base for 1 April 2020 is 9,654 and its estimate for July 2024 is 10,415.[census-1920-fl][population-by-race-1930-1940][census-1950-fl][census-1970-fl][census-1990-fl][census-2010-fl][popest-2024] For the years before 1920 there is no census count of the town at all, only the town history’s own figures.[maxwell-1976]

The census counts

Census Population of the Town or City of Avon Park Source
1910 not returned separately (the town was incorporated in 1913) [census-1920-fl]
1920 890 [census-1920-fl]
1930 3,355 [population-by-race-1930-1940]
1940 3,125 [census-1950-fl]
1950 4,612 [census-1950-fl]
1960 6,073 [census-1970-fl]
1970 6,712 [census-1970-fl]
1980 8,026 [census-1990-fl]
1990 8,042 as published in 1993; 8,078 as carried in the 2010 volume [census-1990-fl][census-2010-fl]
2000 8,542 [census-2010-fl]
2010 8,836 [census-2010-fl]
2020 9,654 (the Bureau’s estimates base for 1 April 2020) [popest-2024]
2024 (estimate, 1 July) 10,415 [popest-2024]

The 1920 bulletin also gives the whole of De Soto County’s Precinct 14, “Avon Park, including Avon Park town,” as 1,698 people, so that in 1920 nearly half the precinct lived outside the town limits — 808 of them, in the mill and turpentine country where most of Black Avon Park then lived.[census-1920-fl] Its Table 3 leaves the town’s 1910 and 1900 columns blank with a footnote mark, the Town of Avon Park not having been incorporated until 1913; the figure of 285 for 1910 that the National Register nomination gives is not a census count of the town and has not been traced to a census table.[census-1920-fl][nrhp-90000486] The 1990 count appears as 8,042 in the Bureau’s own 1990 volume and as 8,078 in the 2010 volume’s comparison table, which carries the counts as later corrected; both are the Bureau’s figures and the difference is thirty-six people.[census-1990-fl][census-2010-fl]

What Florida counted in 1925

Florida took its own censuses between the federal ones. The fifth state census, of 1925, gives Avon Park 1,534 people, and breaks them down by race and sex: 656 white men, 649 white women, 109 Black men and 120 Black women. The same table carries its own column for 1920 and prints 890 there, which confirms the federal figure from a second direction.[florida-1925]

This matters for one of the town history’s figures. The book gives 5,000 for 1925 under a heading reading “U.S. Census.”[maxwell-1976] The state’s own count for that year is 1,534.[florida-1925]

The town history’s figures

Evidence: tradition.

For the years the census did not count, the town history prints its own table, headed “Population of Avon Park”: eight in 1886, five hundred in 1895, “after the freeze” 241, then under the heading “U.S. Census” 300 for 1907–08, 890 for 1920, 5,000 for 1925, 4,667 for 1935, 8,100 for 1970 and an estimate of 15,000 for 1979.[maxwell-1976] Only the 1920 figure is a federal census count. The 1925 and 1935 figures are of the kind the Florida state censuses of those years produced, and the 1970 and 1979 figures do not match the federal counts of 6,712 in 1970 and 8,026 in 1980; the eight of 1886, the five hundred of 1895 and the 241 “after the freeze” are the book’s own reckoning of the settlement’s size, and are the only figures there are.[maxwell-1976][census-1970-fl][census-1990-fl]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Florida Department of Agriculture, The Fifth Census of the State of Florida Taken in the Year 1925: Table 18, Population of Cities, Towns and Villages by Race, page 71, and Table 19, Population of Cities, Towns and Villages by Counties, page 79 (1926) · official
  2. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida, page 212: Population of Avon Park (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976) · book
  3. United States Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Population, Florida, Number of Inhabitants, Table 3, Population of Incorporated Places: 1920, 1910 and 1900, and the minor civil divisions of De Soto County (1921) · official
  4. Avon Park Historical Society research, Avon Park's population by race, 1930–1950, read from the 1930, 1940 and 1950 census volumes (../findings/avon-park-population-by-race-1930-1940.md) (2026) · secondary
  5. United States Bureau of the Census, Census of Population: 1950, Volume II, Part 10, Florida, Chapter 1, Number of Inhabitants, Table 6, Population of Incorporated Places: 1950 and 1940 (1952) · official
  6. United States Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population, Volume I, Part 11, Florida, Number of Inhabitants, Table 6, Population of Places: 1970 and 1960 (1971) · official
  7. United States Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Population and Housing Unit Counts, Florida (CPH-2-11), Table 2, Population and Housing Units: 1970 to 1990, Avon Park city (1993) · official
  8. United States Bureau of the Census, 2010 Census of Population and Housing, Population and Housing Unit Counts, Florida (CPH-2-11), Table 4, Population and Housing Units: 1990 to 2010, Avon Park city (2012) · official
  9. United States Census Bureau, Population Division, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Florida: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024 (SUB-IP-EST2024-POP-12) (2025) · official
  10. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Avon Park Historic District (1990) · official

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