Palm Beach is a somewhat small coastal town (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Florida. With a population of 10,374 people and four constituent neighborhoods, Palm Beach is the 232nd largest community in Florida.

Palm Beach is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 98.13% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Palm Beach is a town of managers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Palm Beach who work in sales jobs (22.82%), management occupations (18.10%), and business and financial occupations (13.80%).

Of important note, Palm Beach is also a town of artists. Palm Beach has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Palm Beach's character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their homes - 20.33% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Palm Beach is a major vacation destination. Much of the town's population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependant on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Palm Beach's population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.

Palm Beach is a major retirement destination. In fact, people 65 and over make up 52.86% of the population. For those considering a place to retire, Palm Beach may be a good choice because much of the town's services and social community are oriented toward the over-65 demographic.

In addition, Palm Beach is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

The town is also nautical, which means that parts of Palm Beach are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

One of the benefits of Palm Beach is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.35 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

Palm Beach is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Palm Beach Information and Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Palm Beach, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Palm Beach is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 53.56% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 14.96%.

The per capita income in Palm Beach in 2000 was $109,219, which is wealthy relative to Florida and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $436,876 for a family of four. However, Palm Beach contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Palm Beach home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Palm Beach is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Palm Beach include Russian, English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and French.

In addition, Palm Beach has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (15.44%).

The languages spoken by people in Palm Beach are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Palm Beach is English. Other important languages spoken here include French, Spanish, and German.