Jacksonville Industries Guide: Port, Navy, Health Care and Finance

The biggest Jacksonville job sectors are trade, transportation and utilities, then education and health services, then professional and business services, out of 803.8 thousand nonfarm jobs in the metro area in August 2026, a preliminary count (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The City of Jacksonville Office of Economic Development targets seven sectors: advanced manufacturing, aviation and aerospace, finance and insurance, headquarters, information technology, life sciences, and logistics and distribution (City of Jacksonville). The office argues that Jacksonville has one of the most diversified industry bases in Florida, which leaves it less dependent on retail and tourism than other large Florida metros.

The Jacksonville metro unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in August 2026, a preliminary, not seasonally adjusted figure, and manufacturing held 36.9 thousand jobs (BLS). The City names General Electric, SAFT and Johnson and Johnson Vision Care among the advanced manufacturers in Jacksonville and credits Jacksonville's consolidated utilities with highly reliable electricity and water at very competitive rates (City of Jacksonville).

The City of Jacksonville says about 11 percent of all Jacksonville workers are in the finance and insurance cluster, more than in Tampa, Orlando or Miami (City of Jacksonville).

Employers the City names in the Jacksonville cluster include Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Florida Blue, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, in offices that run from the downtown Jacksonville waterfront to suburban campuses (City of Jacksonville). The City adds that local colleges graduate more than 2,600 business students a year.

The newest federal count is less upbeat. Preliminary BLS data put Jacksonville metro financial activities at 67.8 thousand jobs in August 2026, down 6.1 percent from a year earlier and about 8.4 percent of the 803.8 thousand nonfarm total (BLS). The City page carries no date for its 11 percent figure, so read it as a long run description of the Jacksonville cluster rather than a current count.

The Jacksonville financial services industry guide covers the banks, payment and fintech firms, and the insurance and finance industry guide covers insurers and the health insurance side of the cluster.

Cargo through JAXPORT supported 30,764 port dependent jobs in the Jacksonville area and more than 258,800 jobs across Florida in 2024, according to a Martin Associates study the port published (JAXPORT).

Port dependent jobs paid an average of $76,706 a year, against a Florida average for all occupations of $60,210 (JAXPORT economic impact). In 2024 Jacksonville cargo activity generated $3.1 billion in business revenue, $920 million in wages and $346 million in state and local taxes, and statewide output reached $44 billion. The cruise business adds more than 870 jobs and more than $211 million a year in Northeast Florida.

The Jacksonville port grew in public steps. The Legislature created the Jacksonville Port Authority in 1963, the City handed over the Talleyrand docks and Goat Island, later Blount Island, and the federal channel reached 47 feet to Blount Island in 2022 (JAXPORT port history). In 2023 the ONE STORK, with capacity for 14,000 TEUs, became the largest container ship ever to call Jacksonville.

Logistics reaches beyond the docks. The City lists three interstates, three railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern and Florida East Coast), Foreign Trade Zone 64 and 10 percent of Jacksonville employment in transportation and warehousing (City of Jacksonville). The Jacksonville maritime and shipping industry guide covers the terminals, carriers and port jobs in detail.

NAS Jacksonville alone reports an economic impact of more than $2 billion a year, and Naval Station Mayport is the third largest Navy fleet concentration in the continental United States (Navy Region Southeast; NS Mayport).

NAS Jacksonville calls itself one of the largest employers in the area and hosts seven active P-8A and P-3C squadrons, three reserve squadrons and five helicopter squadrons (NAS Jacksonville). Its major tenants include Commander, Navy Region Southeast, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, Naval Hospital Jacksonville and Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, and more than 120 other tenant activities.

Naval Station Mayport was commissioned in December 1942 and covers 3,409 acres with easy access to inland waterways and the open ocean (NS Mayport). Its harbor can hold 34 ships, its runway is 8,000 feet long, and it supports more than 80 commands, including 20 naval ships and three helicopter squadrons.

The bases also feed civilian Jacksonville employers. The City counts about 3,000 military separations a year from local units, a pool of trained workers for aviation and aerospace firms, and markets Cecil Commerce Center, with more than 8,300 developable acres and a 12,500 foot runway at Cecil Airport that it ranks as the third longest in Florida (City of Jacksonville). The Jacksonville military and defense guide covers NAS Jacksonville, Mayport and the contractors around them.

The City of Jacksonville counts more than 50,000 employees and half a dozen major hospitals in medical products and services, and preliminary BLS data count 139.8 thousand Jacksonville metro jobs in education and health services in August 2026 (City of Jacksonville; BLS).

Hospital systems the City names include St. Vincent's Medical Center, UF Health Jacksonville, the Mayo Clinic and Baptist Health Systems (City of Jacksonville). The City says the Office of Economic Development helped bring the nation's third proton beam therapy center to UF Health Jacksonville and cites a recent private capital investment of more than $600 million in the sector.

Preliminary BLS data show education and health services in Jacksonville up 3.3 percent over the 12 months to August 2026, the fastest growth of any sector listed, while financial activities fell 6.1 percent (BLS). The City page gives no year for its 50,000 employee and $600 million figures, so the BLS series is the better gauge of where Jacksonville hiring is moving. The Jacksonville healthcare industry guide covers the hospital systems and research campuses.

Five Jacksonville industry guides go deeper than this hub, and the table below pairs each common question with the key figure and the guide that covers it.

Two Jacksonville official pages show their age. The City targeted industries page has no date and still calls its medical investment figure recent (City of Jacksonville), and the JAXPORT economic impact page still describes a second cruise service that begins calling Jacksonville in the fall of 2025, with a 2023 passenger count of nearly 195,000 (JAXPORT). For current Jacksonville job counts, the monthly BLS Economy at a Glance table is the source to check first.