Jacksonville Neighborhoods Guide

Jacksonville groups its more than 200 neighborhoods into six planning districts, Urban Core, Greater Arlington/Beaches, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest and North, each with its own Citizens Planning Advisory Committee.

The Neighborhood Services Office states the count and the six-district structure, and notes that Citizens Planning Advisory Committees, or CPACs, were first set up in October 1993 by Mayor Ed Austin as a grassroots participation program (City of Jacksonville). The district lines are not informal: CPAC boundaries correspond to the six planning districts in the City of Jacksonville's 2010 Comprehensive Plan (City of Jacksonville). The districts are large: the Southwest district alone stretches from the St. Johns River to the Baker County line.

Each district page carries the full boundary description. The Urban Core runs from the St. Johns River north to Moncrief Creek and Golfair Boulevard (City of Jacksonville); Greater Arlington/Beaches stops at the Intracoastal Waterway, Church Road and the Atlantic Beach municipal boundary (City of Jacksonville); the Southeast runs from Beach Blvd. to the St. Johns County line (City of Jacksonville); the Southwest reaches the Baker and Clay county lines (City of Jacksonville); the Northwest meets on the second Thursday at The Legends Center on Soutel Drive (City of Jacksonville); and the North reaches the Nassau County line and the ocean (City of Jacksonville).

Riverside, Avondale and Old Ortega are National Register districts on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, and Springfield is both a National Register and a local district.

Riverside has the earliest of the three National Park Service publication dates, 3/22/1985, with boundaries running roughly from the Seaboard Coastline railroad and Riverside and Memorial parks to the St. Johns River and Seminole (National Park Service). Avondale followed on 7/6/1989, between Roosevelt Boulevard, Belvedere Avenue, Seminole Road, the river and Talbot Avenue (National Park Service). Old Ortega, set between Roosevelt Boulevard, Verona Avenue and the St. Johns and Ortega rivers, was published on 7/14/2004 (National Park Service).

Springfield is listed both on the National Register and as a local district, which means exterior work there goes through city design review (Duval County Property Appraiser). For a Jacksonville buyer, the difference between federal listing and local designation decides whether a new fence or window needs city approval; the Jacksonville historic districts guide covers those rules, and the Avondale real estate 2026 and San Marco real estate 2026 guides cover two of the older river neighborhoods in more depth.

The Downtown Investment Authority divides downtown Jacksonville into named districts, among them the Central Core, the Church District, Cathedral, LaVilla, Brooklyn and the Southside District on the Southbank.

Those names appear in the DIA's Small-Scale Multi-Family Housing Grant, which pays different per-unit rates by district: Cathedral and LaVilla rank first, then the Central Core, the Church District and the part of Brooklyn between Park Street and McCoy's Creek, then the Southside District between Prudential Drive and its southern boundary (Downtown Investment Authority). Brooklyn is split in DIA rules: its riverfront parcels between Riverside Avenue and the St. Johns River are a Limited Incentive Area where the larger Multi-Family REV grant is capped at 50% (Downtown Investment Authority).

Downtown sits inside the Urban Core planning district, and its CPAC meets at the Main Public Library on Laura Street (City of Jacksonville). The downtown Jacksonville condos 2026 guide covers the residential towers and incentives in those districts, and the Jacksonville waterfront properties guide follows the river corridor beyond them.

No: Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin sit inside Duval County but keep their own municipal governments, so they are separate cities rather than Jacksonville neighborhoods.

A 1999 informal opinion of the Florida Attorney General traces why. The Florida Legislature's 1967 session first folded Duval County, the City of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and the Town of Baldwin into one consolidated government, then later in the same session restored to the Beaches and Baldwin the independent powers the first act had removed (Florida Attorney General). In Albury v. City of Jacksonville Beach (1974), the Florida Supreme Court affirmed that the Beaches and Baldwin continue to exist as quasi-municipal corporations (Florida Attorney General).

The line shows up in Jacksonville's own planning map: the Greater Arlington/Beaches district ends at the Intracoastal Waterway, Church Road and the Atlantic Beach municipal boundary (City of Jacksonville). Neighborhoods such as Arlington and the Jacksonville side of the Intracoastal fall under the consolidated city, while an address in Neptune Beach or Baldwin answers to that town's own municipal government.

In the Census Bureau's ACS 2020-2024 estimates, the median Jacksonville home is valued at $293,700, while the three beach cities run from $575,800 in Jacksonville Beach to $670,900 in Neptune Beach and Baldwin sits at $180,700.

Sources for each row: Jacksonville (U.S. Census Bureau), Jacksonville Beach (U.S. Census Bureau), Atlantic Beach (U.S. Census Bureau), Neptune Beach (U.S. Census Bureau) and Baldwin (U.S. Census Bureau). The margins matter: Atlantic Beach's estimate carries a margin of $65,520, so the ranking among the three beach cities is not firm, while the gap between them and Jacksonville city is larger than any of the published margins.

This place-level table has no separate figure for Jacksonville neighborhoods such as Riverside, Mandarin or Arlington, which are not Census places, so the citywide $293,700 blends all six planning districts. The Jacksonville real estate market trends guide follows price direction, and the Jacksonville new construction 2026 guide covers where new homes are being permitted.

A Jacksonville neighborhood association registers in the city's Directory of Neighborhood Organizations, which also signs it up for notice of zoning changes, and residents can attend any CPAC meeting in their planning district.

The directory can be filtered by planning district and City Council district, and registration is the first step toward a seat on a CPAC (City of Jacksonville). CPAC members are appointed by the Mayor after nomination by neighborhood, civic, business, school and community groups in the district (City of Jacksonville). CPACs are informed of applications for land-use plan amendments and rezonings in their planning district, which makes the monthly meeting the earliest public place to hear about a development proposal near a Jacksonville home (City of Jacksonville).

A practical tip on phone numbers: the Boards and Commissions CPAC page lists the Neighborhood Services Office at (904) 255-8200 (City of Jacksonville), while the Neighborhood Services CPAC page and several district pages give (904) 255-8250 (City of Jacksonville). The Southwest and North district pages list a named city contact with a direct line, and the Arlington/Beaches, Southeast, Southwest and North pages say meetings are hybrid and subject to change or cancellation (City of Jacksonville). The Urban Core, Northwest and North CPACs do not meet in July or December (City of Jacksonville, City of Jacksonville, City of Jacksonville).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.