Atlantic Beach, Florida: A Separate City on the Jacksonville Coast

No. Atlantic Beach is a separate city from Jacksonville: the City of Atlantic Beach was incorporated on December 4, 1925, and runs its own elected commission, city manager and city hall at 800 Seminole Road.

The City of Atlantic Beach dates its incorporation to Dec. 4, 1925, on its centennial page (City of Atlantic Beach, Centennial Celebration), and its commission page says it operates under a non-partisan Commissioner-Manager form of government, with a City Manager appointed by the Commission to enforce ordinances, oversee city departments and prepare the annual budget (City of Atlantic Beach, City Commission). Atlantic Beach City Hall is at 800 Seminole Road, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233, phone (904) 247-5800 (City of Atlantic Beach). Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the City of Atlantic Beach home, commission, centennial, parking and news pages and the three Census ACS 2020-2024 profile tables for the city.

This page sits in the Jacksonville places section for navigation only. Questions about Atlantic Beach permits, parking and water rules go to the City of Atlantic Beach. For voting districts, the Atlantic Beach commission page sends residents to the Precinct Finder on the Duval County Supervisor of Elections website.

Atlantic Beach had an estimated 13,363 residents in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, with a median age of 48.9 and a median household income of $118,935.

Population and age come from the DP05 demographic profile (Census ACS 2020-2024 DP05, Atlantic Beach city) and the income, work and poverty figures from the DP03 economic profile (Census ACS 2020-2024 DP03, Atlantic Beach city). The City of Atlantic Beach uses a rounder figure on its centennial page, describing a community of 13,500 residents (City of Atlantic Beach, centennial); the two numbers come from different sources and are shown side by side here.

Atlantic Beach had 6,557 housing units in ACS 2020-2024, 73.9% of occupied homes were owner occupied, and the median value of an owner occupied home was $630,200.

All housing figures are from the DP04 housing profile for Atlantic Beach city (Census ACS 2020-2024 DP04, Atlantic Beach city). They are five-year estimates covering 2020 through 2024, so they describe that period rather than current listing prices, and they carry margins of error that the Census table publishes alongside each estimate.

The Atlantic Beach City Commission has five members: Mayor Curtis Ford in Seat 1 and Commissioners Bruce Bole, Thomas Grant, Candace Kelly and Jessica Ring, and it meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays.

The commission page lists Bruce Bole in Seat 2 as Mayor Pro Tem, Thomas Grant in Seat 3, Candace Kelly in Seat 4 and Jessica Ring in Seat 5 (City of Atlantic Beach, City Commission). The Atlantic Beach Mayor and Commissioner serves a two-year term and votes on all matters, while the other commissioners serve four-year terms, under what the City calls a staggered term system. Regular meetings are in the Commission Chamber except in December, when there is one regular meeting on the second Monday, and a meeting that falls on a holiday moves to Tuesday.

The city calendar on the Atlantic Beach home page lists the next City Commission meeting on Monday, October 26, 2026, a Community Development Board meeting on Tuesday, October 20, and an Environmental Stewardship Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 28 (City of Atlantic Beach calendar).

Public parking on the Atlantic Beach side of Beaches Town Center costs $2.50 per hour from 11 a.m. to midnight every day, and registered Atlantic Beach residents get four hours free.

The City's parking page counts about 65 public spaces on the Atlantic Beach side of Beaches Town Center, on Atlantic Boulevard, Ocean Boulevard, Ahern Street and the 100 block of First Street, paid at kiosks or by QR code, with no back-in parking (City of Atlantic Beach, Public Parking). At the 18th and 19th Street beach accesses, the seasonal pay-to-park program runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays to Sundays from March 1 to September 30 and on Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day, at $2.50 per hour, with no parking after 9 p.m. 18th Street has 40 regular spaces, 4 low-speed vehicle spaces and 2 disabled spaces, and 19th Street has 14 regular spaces and 1 disabled space.

Atlantic Beach residents must act before December 15, 2026. A September 2026 update on the parking page says the City has launched a new Resident Parking Portal, Neptune Beach no longer handles Atlantic Beach registrations, and every prior registration expires on December 15, 2026; volunteers help with sign-up at City Hall on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. Drivers with a valid state disabled parking permit may park free for up to three hours in any public space, and the City points visitors who need more room to Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, with hundreds of public spaces (City of Atlantic Beach, parking update). The page's figures for private valet (typically $40 without validation) and private lots ($3 an hour for three hours, then $5) were provided in December 2025 and are flagged by the City as subject to update (City of Atlantic Beach, Public Parking).

The City says Atlantic Beach started as Henry Flagler's railroad branch, and its centennial page said the City would begin celebrating its 100th anniversary in December 2025.

The centennial page says the town began with about 164 mainly seasonal residents and became a community of year-round residents, and that the railroad and the 250-room hotel are gone (City of Atlantic Beach, centennial). The City planned a series of events to mark the anniversary of the December 4, 1925, incorporation, and asked volunteers to sign up by emailing [email protected].

A City of Atlantic Beach notice of September 9, 2026, limits lawn watering to one day a week under a Phase III water shortage order, and the Tide Views Preserve Sunset Pier is closed for repairs.

Under the City's September 9, 2026, notice, landscape irrigation in Atlantic Beach is limited to one day a week between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.: odd-numbered residential addresses on Saturdays, even-numbered addresses on Sundays, and non-residential properties on Tuesdays (City of Atlantic Beach, water shortage mandate). New landscaping follows a 15/30/15 establishment schedule, with any-day watering for 15 days, up to three days a week for the next 30 days and up to two days a week for the final 15. The notice ties the rules to the St. Johns River Water Management District's Phase III Extreme Water Shortage Order.

The Tide Views Preserve Sunset Pier in Atlantic Beach remains closed until further notice, entering it is prohibited, and repair construction is tentatively scheduled to begin by Nov. 15, according to an October 15, 2026, update (City of Atlantic Beach, Sunset Pier update). After heavy October rain the City also warned of falling trees and asked people to report fallen limbs or hazardous trees on public property or rights of way to Public Works at (904) 247-5834, and to call 911 for trees blocking major roads or bringing down power lines (City of Atlantic Beach, tree safety advisory).