City of Port Charlotte, Florida: General Information

The city of Port Charlotte, Florida is a census-designated place, or CDP for U.S. Census purposes.  It is located in Charlotte County along Florida‘s Gulf Coast, and is part of the Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area.  As of the U.S. Census conducted in 2000, there were 46,451 residents dwelling in Port Charlotte’s 20,453 households, and there were 13,601 families residing in the city.  As such, the population density was 2,085 people per square mile, with a average housing density of  23,315 or 1,047 per square mile.

Port Charlotte’s 20,453 households include 20.8% that had children under the age of 18 living in them, while 53.2% were married couples living together.  Female householders were in 10.1% or Port Charlotte homes and 33.5% were non-families.  Individuals living alone were the heads of household in 28.2% of all households, and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  On average, the household size was 2.25 residents, and the average family size was 2.71 people

In Port Charlotte. the population was widely distribu8ted, with 18.7% of residents being under the age of 18 and 5.4% were aged from 18 to 24.  The age range of 25 to 44 was 21.0% of the population, and 24.2% were from 45 to 64years old.  Finally, 30.7% of Port Charlotte residents were 65 years of age or older with a city-wide median age of 49 years.  For every 100 females calling Port Charlotte home there were 87.7 males, and women age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.

The median income for a typical Port Charlotte household was $33,193, and the median income for a family was $38,406.  Males out earned females with a median income of $29,019 versus women‘s $21,892, and the per capita income for Port Charlotte was $18,563.  In all, about 7.3% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the poverty line.  Charlotte County, which includes Port Charlotte, had the region’s highest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent in August 2007, higher than both the national and state averages.