Key West Transit Development Plan FY2025-2034

2.1 Service Area Description

2.1.3 Demographic Profile Table 2-4 represents the growth and change from a local, regional, and state perspective capturing the Key West population over the years. In 2016, the population of Key West stood at 26,039 residents and experienced a modest but significant growth of 737 individuals, marking a 2.8% increase between 2016 and 2021. Zooming out to Monroe County, in 2016, the county’s population was 77,150, with a faster growth rate of 6.6%, equivalent to 5,094 individuals between 2016 and 2021. Meanwhile, the entire state of Florida was experiencing its own surge in population, with the state’s numbers reaching 19,934,451 in 2016. The population increase of 1,405,311, constitutes 7% growth from 2016 to 2021. Table 2-4: City of Key West Population and Regional and State Comparison

Year

City Of Key West Population Monroe County Population

Florida State Population

2016

26,039

77,150

19,934,451

CHANGE

+737 (2.8%)

+5,094 (6.6%)

+1,405,311 (7.0%)

2021

26,776

82,244

21,339,762

Data Source: American Community Survey 2016 (5-year estimates) and 2021 (5-year estimates)

2.1.4 Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) Population Trends TD population groups include disabled persons, elderly and low-income persons and children. Disability refers to physical or mental limitations that may limit a person’s ability to access transportation. There are overlaps among these categories of TD populations. One of the required elements of the state mandated Transportation Disadvantaged Service Plan (TDSP) is an estimate of the TD population for the service area. Table 2-5 reiterates demographic characteristics for the City of Key West in the years 2016 and 2021. This table was first presented in section 2.1.1. Key West’s total population increased by 2.8%, from 26,039 in 2016 to 26,776 in 2021. The number of disabled persons decreased by 22.7%, from 2,820 (10.8%) in 2016 to 2,181 (8.1%) in 2021. However, the elderly population (aged 65 and older) increased by 40.0%, from 3,584 (13.8%) to 5,017 (18.7%), reflecting an aging trend in the community. The youth population (aged less than 18) experienced a slight decrease of 2.2%, from 2,967 (11.4%) in 2016 to 2,903 (10.8%) in 2021. The total number of households increased by 14.0%, from 9,653 in 2016 to 11,002 in 2021.

Transit Development Plan FY 2025–2034

Page 11