Fleming Island is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Fl ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States. It is located southwest of downtown

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, on the western side of the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River () is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and is the most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders 12 counties. The drop in elevation from River s ...

, off

US 17 U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that spans in the Southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its len ...

. As of the 2020 census the Fleming Island CDP had a population of 29,142, up from 27,126 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Fleming Island's ZIP code became 32003 in 2004, giving it a different code from Orange Park, the incorporated town to the north.

History

Fleming Island was an area of Florida settled by Irish immigrant, George Fleming (1760-1821), who received a 1,000-acre land grant from the Spanish governor of East Florida for his military service. In 1790 George Fleming established a plantation called "Hibernia" (in what is now Hibernia, Florida), after the Latin word for Ireland. When he died in 1821, the plantation was left to his son, Col. Lewis Michael Fleming (1798-1862). In 1942, when the area was undeveloped, the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

constructed four asphalt runways on the site and established a Naval Outlying Field designated as NOLF Fleming Island, an auxiliary airfield to Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The Navy abandoned the auxiliary airfield in the 1960s, its runways too short to accommodate the jet aircraft then in operation at nearby NAS Jacksonville and NAS Cecil Field, and in the late 1990s the decaying runways were demolished to make way for current residential development.

Community

Today, Fleming Island is primarily a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

of nearby Jacksonville. Major developments include Eagle Harbor, Pace Island, and Fleming Island Plantation. Fleming Island High School, which opened in 2003, is the only high school on the island. Fleming Island ranks among the wealthiest zip codes in the Jacksonville area, placing #2 after

Ponte Vedra Beach Ponte, a word meaning ''bridge'' in Italian, Portuguese, and Galician languages, may refer to: Places England *Pontefract, a town in the Metropolitan City of Wakefield France *Ponte Leccia, a civil parish (hameau) in the department of Haute-Cors ...

in the March 2013 ''Jacksonville Business Journal'' article. In 2021 it was ranked number one in Jacksonville metro in Stacker. The Clay County Public Library headquarters is on Fleming Island, as are the Clay County Soccer Club fields. There is an sidewalk running the length of Fleming Island, providing about of walking, jogging and biking. Black Creek Park on the south end of the Fleming Island borders Black Creek and affords bikers and hikers nature trails. There is a park for children at Moccasin Slough on the north end of the island. Moccasin Slough also features a canal navigable by canoe or small boat, dug almost all the way to Doctors Lake. Fleming Island has relatively low crime and consistently scores high in livability.

Geography

The Fleming Island CDP is located in northeastern Clay County, sharing its northern border with the southern town limits of Orange Park. To the northwest is the CDP of Lakeside. To the northeast is a portion of the city of

, and due east is Fruit Cove in St. Johns County on the other side of the St. Johns River. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Fleming Island CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 31.56%, is water. Fleming Island is bordered by water or wetlands on all sides: the

to the east, Doctors Lake to the north, Black Creek to the south and Swimming Pen Creek to the west. There are wetlands from Swimming Pen Creek to Black Creek that are not navigable. Some locals favor opening this to Black Creek but so far, the St. Johns Water Management District has not pursued the idea of doing this.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 27,126 people, 9,821 households, and 7,770 families residing in the CDP. There were 10,440 housing units, 9,821 of which were occupied. The racial makeup of the town was 86.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Native American, 4.1% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.4% some other race, and 2.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 6.4% of the population. There were 9,821 households, out of which 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.5% were headed by

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.3% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.12. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 30.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males. For the period 2010–12, the estimated median annual income for a household in the CDP was $86,598, and the median income for a family was $96,755. Male full-time workers had a median income of $71,494 versus $47,864 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $32,102.

Schools

The Clay County School District operates public schools. Fleming Island High School and three elementary schools: Thunderbolt, Fleming Island, and Paterson. They also have a K-12 Florida Charter School, St. Johns Classical Academy.

References

External links

Fleming Island Online
community website {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Clay County, Florida Census-designated places in the Jacksonville metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Florida Census-designated places in Florida Populated places on the St. Johns River