Jobs & Economy in St. Augustine
St. Augustine's job market is genuinely different from Jacksonville proper: it's smaller, more seasonal, and built substantially around tourism and hospitality rather than a diversified corporate base. That's a real trade-off worth naming plainly, not softening -- St. Johns County's unemployment rate has also been trending upward through 2025.
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Learn moreUnemployment Has Been Rising, With Some Disagreement on the Exact Rate
St. Johns County's unemployment rate has moved higher through 2025: one source cites a 2025 county average of 4.2% with a labor force of 158,270; another cites the rate reaching 4.1% in July 2025, the county's highest level since September 2020; a third cites about 4.5% in December 2025, up 1.5 percentage points year-over-year. These readings disagree on the precise figure but agree on the direction -- unemployment has been climbing, not falling, through 2025.
Tourism Is the Dominant Economic Driver
Tourism generates an estimated $3.8 billion annually in St. Johns County and supports more than 30,000 jobs, with visitors spending over $2.4 billion annually and the local bed tax alone contributing around $24 million a year, per St. Johns County Economic Development and News4Jax reporting. This is a countywide figure that includes St. Augustine Beach and other areas, not St. Augustine city limits alone, but the historic downtown -- anchored by the Castillo de San Marcos and the Old City core -- is the physical and economic center of that tourism draw.
A Smaller, More Seasonal Job Base Than Jacksonville
Employment within St. Augustine itself is modest in absolute terms (Data USA figures put city-level employment in the range of roughly 7,500-7,600 jobs, and actually declined slightly, about -0.4%, from 2023 to 2024). Jobs here concentrate in bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, historic-district retail, and other hospitality roles that ebb and flow with tourist season -- a genuinely different, smaller, and softer job market than Jacksonville proper's larger, more diversified corporate and logistics base. Anyone relying on St. Augustine itself (rather than commuting into greater Jacksonville) for employment should factor in this seasonality and scale.
The County Overall Has Grown Jobs Faster Than the Nation
Zooming out to the full county: jobs in St. Johns County grew 25.7% from 2020 to 2025 (91,021 to 114,406), outpacing the 10.6% national growth rate over the same period, per county economic-development data. That county-level growth, though, reflects the broader area including newer, faster-growing communities -- it should not be read as describing St. Augustine's own, smaller and more tourism-concentrated job base.
Key takeaways
- St. Johns County's unemployment rate rose through 2025 -- readings range from about 4.1% to 4.5% depending on the source and month, but all agree the trend has been upward, reaching the county's highest level since September 2020 by one measure.
- Tourism generates an estimated $3.8 billion annually and supports 30,000+ jobs countywide (visitor spending over $2.4 billion, bed tax revenue around $24 million/year), anchored physically by the historic downtown.
- St. Augustine's own city-level job base is modest (roughly 7,500-7,600 jobs per Data USA, down slightly 2023-2024) and concentrated in hospitality, restaurants, and historic-district retail -- a smaller, more seasonal market than Jacksonville proper's diversified corporate and logistics economy.
- St. Johns County overall grew jobs 25.7% from 2020-2025, well above the 10.6% national rate, but that county-level growth reflects newer, faster-growing communities more than St. Augustine's own tourism-concentrated base.
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