Race and Ethnicity in Vero Beach

The 2020 census found that Vero Beach is predominantly non-Hispanic White, with a Hispanic or Latino population of about one in eight residents.

According to the Census Bureau's 2020 Redistricting Data table P2 for Vero Beach city, 12,741 residents (77.91 percent) were White and not Hispanic, 1,937 (11.84 percent) were Hispanic or Latino of any race, 681 (4.16 percent) were Black and not Hispanic, 508 (3.11 percent) reported two or more races, and 360 (2.20 percent) were Asian. American Indian, Pacific Islander and other single-race groups together made up less than 1 percent of the city.

The Census Bureau treats Hispanic origin and race as two separate questions. Its race topic page states that people who identify as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish may be of any race, that people may choose to report more than one race, and that OMB requires five minimum race categories. The 2020 figures above for Vero Beach use the non-Hispanic convention, so each resident is counted once.

Across the three most recent censuses, the non-Hispanic White share of Vero Beach fell by about eleven percentage points while every other major group grew.

Table P004 of the 2000 census recorded 15,695 non-Hispanic White residents, 88.65 percent of Vero Beach. By the 2010 count that group had fallen to 12,394, or 81.43 percent, and in 2020 it stood at 12,741, or 77.91 percent. The decade from 2000 to 2010, when the city's overall count dropped, accounts for most of the shift.

The Hispanic or Latino population of Vero Beach grew in both decades: 1,025 residents (5.79 percent) in 2000, 1,634 (10.74 percent) in 2010 and 1,937 (11.84 percent) in 2020. The share nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010 even as the total city population fell. Non-Hispanic Black residents numbered 581 in 2000, 676 in 2010 and 681 in 2020, a share that moved from 3.28 to 4.44 and then 4.16 percent. The Asian population rose from 213 to 279 to 360 people, reaching 2.20 percent of Vero Beach in 2020.

Vero Beach residents reporting two or more races (and not Hispanic) numbered 133 in 2000 and 180 in 2010, then 508 in 2020, a rise from 1.18 to 3.11 percent of the city in one decade.

Part of that jump reflects how the census was taken rather than only who lived in Vero Beach. In an August 2021 analysis, the Census Bureau attributed nationwide shifts to improvements in the design of the race and ethnicity questions, processing and coding, and reported that the national Multiracial population was up 276 percent while the White alone population declined by 8.6 percent since 2010. Nationally, the Multiracial population was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and 33.8 million in 2020.

The bureau described the 2020 results as different but reasonable and expected compared with 2010. For Vero Beach, this means the 2010 to 2020 movement in the White and multiracial shares mixes real population change with a change in measurement, and the 2000 to 2010 shift (before the new coding) is the cleaner comparison of who moved in and out of the city.

The most visible difference between Vero Beach and Indian River County is the size of the Hispanic and Black populations, both proportionally larger in the county.

The 2020 county table shows Indian River County as 73.49 percent non-Hispanic White, 13.04 percent Hispanic (20,832 people) and 8.19 percent non-Hispanic Black (13,079 people), against 4.16 percent non-Hispanic Black inside the Vero Beach city limits. The county's Hispanic share grew from 6.53 percent in 2000 to 11.20 percent in 2010.

The Census Bureau's ACS 2020-2024 profile for Indian River County shows the same pattern in survey estimates: Hispanic or Latino residents make up 13.9 percent, the Black alone population 7.8 percent and the White alone, not Hispanic or Latino group 72.5 percent, with 11.1 percent reporting two or more races. The county social profile reports that 14.1 percent of residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. Because the Census Bureau's 2020 Florida place list shows Gifford, Florida Ridge and Vero Beach South as separate census designated places in Indian River County, county averages describe a wider area than the Vero Beach city limits.

Indian River County's Hispanic population nearly tripled between 2000 and 2020, from 7,381 to 20,832 residents, while the county population grew from 112,947 to 159,788.

The 2000 county table P004 put the Hispanic share at 6.53 percent; the 2010 county count found 15,465 Hispanic residents, 11.20 percent, and the 2020 count 13.04 percent. Non-Hispanic Black residents of Indian River County numbered 9,143 in 2000, 12,074 in 2010 and 13,079 in 2020, with the share holding between about 8 and 9 percent (8.09, 8.75 and 8.19 percent). The non-Hispanic Asian population of the county rose from 828 in 2000 to 1,646 in 2010 and 2,341 in 2020.

The non-Hispanic White share of Indian River County fell from 83.45 percent in 2000 to 77.36 percent in 2010 and 73.49 percent in 2020, a drop of 9.96 points. Over the same twenty years the non-Hispanic White share of Vero Beach fell from 88.65 to 77.91 percent, a drop of 10.74 points, so the city remained less diverse than the county while changing slightly faster.

Several groups in Vero Beach are small enough that a few dozen people move their shares noticeably.

Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native residents numbered 34 in 2000, 26 in 2010 and 32 in 2020, about 0.2 percent of the city each time. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander residents numbered 4, 14 and 7 across the same three counts. Residents reporting some other race alone, and not Hispanic, rose from 20 in 2000 and 17 in 2010 to 88 in 2020, a jump that coincides with the updated 2020 data processing and coding procedures described by the Census Bureau. At these sizes, annual survey estimates for Vero Beach carry wide margins, and the decennial counts give the clearer picture.

The ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimates list Vero Beach as 73.1 percent White alone and 11.6 percent Hispanic or Latino, with 11.2 percent reporting two or more races.

The city's ACS demographic profile also gives 9.2 percent Black alone, 2.0 percent Asian alone, 1.1 percent American Indian and Alaska Native alone and 3.4 percent some other race alone, and 71.7 percent White alone, not Hispanic or Latino. Its social profile reports that 13.4 percent of Vero Beach residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home.

These Vero Beach shares come from survey samples and use race alone categories that include Hispanic residents, so they do not line up exactly with the 2020 census count. The margins are wide: the Black alone estimate of 9.2 percent carries a margin of error of 3.9 points and the two or more races estimate of 11.2 percent a margin of 4.0 points. The Black alone figure is more than double the 4.16 percent non-Hispanic Black share counted in 2020, so for a stable benchmark of Vero Beach composition the decennial census tables remain the firmer source.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, against the Census Bureau's 2000, 2010 and 2020 race and Hispanic origin tables for Vero Beach and Indian River County, the ACS 2020-2024 profiles, the 2020 place list, its race topic page and its August 2021 multiracial analysis.