Buying in Palm Beach County, Florida

Palm Beach County at a glance

Palm Beach County is one of 67 counties and county-equivalents in Florida. Its county seat is West Palm Beach. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 1,582,055, it is the third most populous county in Florida. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 26,016 offenses — 16.44 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Palm Beach County

• Property record card — the Palm Beach County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in West Palm Beach — start there for office locations and the parcel search.
• Deeds & liens — the Palm Beach County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
• Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Palm Beach County is the primary county for 50 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
• The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Palm Beach County reported 26,016 offenses — 16.44 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (17,956). The crime section below sets that beside the Florida county median.
• Registry check. Run the address through Florida Sexual Offender and Predator Search (Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
• Permits & code history — the Palm Beach building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of West Palm Beach.
• School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Florida.

Reported crime in Palm Beach County — FBI 2024

Agencies in Palm Beach County reported 26,016 offenses to the FBI in 2024 — 4,375 violent and 21,641 property offenses. That works out to a reported-crime rate of 16.44 per 1,000 residents (violent 276.5, property 1367.9 per 100,000).

Inside Florida, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 154 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 628 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 67 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (17,956), aggravated assault (3,058) and burglary (2,173).

Coverage: 45 of 45 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 32 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies. FL had incomplete agency reporting statewide in 2024: reported offenses equal about 73% of the FBI's estimated state total at the low end (violent 77%, property 73%), so this county's counts and rates likely understate 2024 totals.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

ZIP guides in Palm Beach County

Registry counts and county crime records for the 47 ZIP codes whose primary county is Palm Beach County.

The Florida rules that apply in Palm Beach County

Traps researched for Florida buyers: Save Our Homes benefit does not transfer to the buyer; 2024 flood disclosure law, expanded in 2025.

Read the full Florida guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Florida counties

All Florida counties · Florida buyer guide