Palatka
Start with Palatka to understand the established center, nearby services and everyday rhythm within Putnam County.
Complete Florida county guide
Putnam
County
The St. Johns River, lakes, trails and historic Palatka define a lower-density county between Gainesville and the Atlantic Coast.
Rivers, springs and old FloridaNorth Florida & First Coast
REGIONNorth Florida & First Coast
COMMUNITIES TO START WITHPalatka · Crescent City · Interlachen
LIFESTYLE SIGNALSRiver life · Trails · Small city
Start with daily life
What Putnam County feels like before you choose a neighborhood.
The St. Johns River, lakes, trails and historic Palatka define a lower-density county between Gainesville and the Atlantic Coast.
Use this guide as a first-pass planning tool. On a scouting trip, compare actual commute routes, insurance requirements, medical access, school or training options and the places you would use in an ordinary week—not only the best-known attraction.
The numbers that matter if you are moving
- Population
- 75,164Census estimate
- At the last full count
- 73,3212020 Census
- Median age
- 45.0
- Aged 65 and over
- 23.8%
- Under 18
- 21.2%
- Median household income
- $47,934
- Median home value
- $160,300what owners estimate
- Homeownership
- 75.4%
- People per household
- 2.35
- Average commute
- 29.6 minutes
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, published January 2026, read September 19, 2026. Survey figures are estimates; median home value is what owners estimate their home is worth, not a sale price.
COUNTY LIFESTYLE THEMES
River lifeTrailsSmall city
Relocation decision desk
Six checks before you choose a county.
Property cost, flood and wind, schools, healthcare, daily travel and storm readiness.
How to research a Florida county →Communities to compare
Begin with the county’s major places.
These are starting points, not a ranking. Add nearby towns and neighborhoods as you learn your daily route and housing priorities.
Crescent City
Use Crescent City to compare housing patterns, main-road access and the shopping or medical stops used during a normal week.
Interlachen
Walk or drive through Interlachen at different times of day to judge traffic, neighborhood character and access to outdoor space.
Hospitals in Putnam County
One hospital with an emergency room.
From the state's own hospital list. Each card opens the state's record for that hospital: its address, phone, services and inspection reports.
How do I compare hospitals in Florida? →How do I find a doctor who takes Medicare? →Search the state's hospital list ↗
Source: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder, Locate a Facility (hospitals), read September 25, 2026.
Evergreen county experiences
10 places that reveal the county.
Use enduring natural, historic and cultural places to understand the area beyond a real-estate showing.
Ravine Gardens State Park
Florida is flat almost everywhere, which is what makes this park strange. Spring-fed ravines cut down through the sandy ridge above the St. Johns River here, deep enough that the bottom is a different world from the rim.
Dunns Creek State Park
Dunns Creek carries the water of Crescent Lake north into the St. Johns River, and the state park takes in 6,302 acres along it, about fifteen miles south of Palatka off US 17. The name comes from John Dunn, a lawyer and coffee planter granted land here in 1765.
Palatka Historic District
Palatka has two historic districts rather than one, and they were both added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1983. The South Historic District covers about 93 acres of residential streets, a neighborhood of late nineteenth and early twentieth century houses built when the town was a steamboat port and a winter resort on the St. Johns River.
Crescent Lake
Crescent Lake runs about thirteen miles north to south and roughly two miles across, covering 15,960 acres and curving the way its name suggests. It sits on the boundary between Putnam and Flagler counties in north central Florida, and drains north through Dunns Creek into the St. Johns River, which makes it part of that river's system rather than a separate basin.
Welaka State Forest
The forest covers 2,287 acres upstream from the town of Welaka along the eastern bank of the St. Johns River, managed by the Florida Forest Service. It is a working forest rather than a park, which means prescribed burning, timber management and a hunting season, and it is quieter than a state park for that reason.
Rodman Recreation Area
The Cross Florida Barge Canal was never finished. What it left on the Ocklawaha River is an earthen dam 7,200 feet long, renamed the Kirkpatrick Dam by the legislature in 1998, holding back a reservoir of about 9,500 acres fed by a drainage basin of nearly 2,800 square miles.
St. Johns River Center
The center stands at 102 North First Street in downtown Palatka, just off US 17 near the river bridge, with parking beside the door. Putnam County runs it and there is no admission charge. The subject is the St. Johns River itself, the longest river in Florida and one of the few in North America that runs north, and the exhibits are hands-on rather than behind glass: displays on the habitats along it, the fish and animals in it, and the history that happened on it.
Bronson-Mulholland House
Judge Isaac H. Bronson received a tract of 1,220 acres in trust in 1852 and had this house up by the winter of 1854. He mattered to Palatka: he sponsored the city charter and gave the land the county courthouse stands on.
Welaka National Fish Hatchery
Florida built the hatchery in 1926 and transferred it to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1938. It sits on the St. Johns River along County Road 309 and works in two parts.
Palatka Mural Tour
Palatka calls itself the City of Murals, and the claim is earned: more than thirty painted walls are spread through the town, most of them in and around the historic downtown between the two National Register districts. They are not decoration so much as a record.
Official planning desk
Check current public information before making the move.
Florida disaster preparedness mapsOfficial evacuation-zone, route and storm-surge planning maps.
Open official source ↗
Florida school accountability reportsCurrent state school and district accountability information.
Open official source ↗
Florida community health dataCounty-level public health indicators and community reports.
Open official source ↗
Florida housing resourcesState resources for homebuyers, renters and local assistance programs.
Open official source ↗Compare nearby counties
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