Zip Code 33149: Key Biscayne, FL, by the Numbers

Identity and Governance

33149 covers a single barrier island between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Crandon Park to the north and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park to the south. Mail addressed to the zip can list either “Key Biscayne” or “Miami,” but there is no second municipality inside the boundary: the entire zip is the Village of Key Biscayne, incorporated on June 18, 1991, making it the first new municipality in Miami-Dade County in more than fifty years.

Incorporation gave the island its own government, and that government operates services a county-run neighborhood would not have. The Village runs under a council-manager structure, with a mayor, six council members, and an appointed Village Manager. Its police department is a 48-member, full-service agency that began operations in March 1993, separate from the Miami-Dade Police Department. The Village also runs its own fire-rescue service. For fiscal year 2025 the Village’s budget documents set the millage rate at 2.9794, the lowest in the Village’s history.

None of that shows up on a bare Census page, and none of it is optional context: it determines who answers a 911 call, who sets the local tax rate, and who patrols the beaches.

Is Key Biscayne part of Miami?No. It is a separate incorporated municipality, the Village of Key Biscayne, with its own government, police, and fire departments. Mail addressed to zip 33149 sometimes lists “Miami” as the city line, which is a postal convention, not a governance fact.

The Numbers Right Now

The population and income rows above already show a range instead of one number, because that range is the honest answer: check two sources for the same zip and the figures will not match, and neither is wrong.

Three things drive the gap. First, vintage: zip-codes.com’s November 2025 figure blends the 2020 decennial count with the 2011 to 2023 American Community Survey window, while simplemaps pulled a newer 2024 5-year window in February 2026, and a newer ACS window shifts the estimate even with no real population change. Second, boundary: some sources report on the zip, 33149 exactly, while others report on the Village, a near-identical but not always matching political boundary, which is why the Village’s own count differs from the Census figures for the same year. Third, methodology: Zillow’s $1,648,943 average home value is a model-based automated valuation, not a Census statistical estimate and not a transaction record, so comparing it directly to the Census’s $1,231,500 or Redfin’s $1,600,000 median sale price means comparing three different kinds of number, not one number measured three times.

Why do population and income figures for 33149 vary so much between sources?Mainly three reasons: different ACS survey windows are used, a newer 5-year window shifts the number even without real change, some sources report the zip while others report the Village boundary, and some figures are Census estimates while others are automated home-value models or a local department’s own count.

Housing and the Real Estate Market

A median sale price of $1.6 million, up 14.7% year over year with a typical 114 days on market, is what Redfin recorded for January 2026. That current transaction number sits well above the Census’s trailing $1,231,500 estimate, which is normal: the ACS estimate reflects a multi-year survey window, not this month’s closings.

A meaningful share of housing in the area is not occupied by a year-round household. Point2Homes reports 7,496 housing units against 4,985 households at the Village level, ACS 2019 to 2023 5-yr, meaning roughly a third of housing units, about 33.5%, are vacant, seasonal, or otherwise not a primary residence. For a buyer, that has practical consequences: lower year-round inventory turnover in condo buildings with heavy seasonal ownership, quieter shoulder seasons, and, in many buildings, HOA rental-restriction rules aimed specifically at limiting short-term seasonal turnover.

Those housing figures only mean something next to nearby areas, so here is the comparison. incomebyzipcode.com’s data, pulled January 29, 2026, puts 33149 well above the county average but not at the top of the local range:

Two and a half times the county median is roughly where 33149 lands, but Fisher Island’s income is still meaningfully higher, so calling Key Biscayne “extremely affluent” needs this comparison set to mean anything specific.

Getting On and Off the Island

The Rickenbacker Causeway is the only vehicular route to and from Key Biscayne; there is no second road. During major events such as tennis tournaments and races, the causeway can drop to Level of Service “F,” the traffic-engineering term for sustained heavy congestion, according to a Florida International University community background report. Anyone planning a move should treat commute reliability, not just commute distance, as a variable that changes several times a year.

Risks and Practical Limitations

All of Key Biscayne sits in Miami-Dade’s hurricane Evacuation Zone A, the first zone ordered to leave ahead of any Category 1 storm or higher, and the Village is a designated Special Flood Hazard Area, according to its emergency management page. Redfin’s flood-risk data, sourced from First Street, projects that 99% of properties in the Village face severe flood risk over the next 30 years.

Because the island empties through a single causeway, Village officials do not wait for the county’s evacuation order. “We can’t wait for the county,” Village Manager Steve Williamson told the Key Biscayne Independent in 2023, explaining that the Village typically issues its own evacuation call roughly 18 hours ahead of the county’s, to avoid a standstill on the causeway. In 1992, the northern eyewall of Hurricane Andrew passed over the island’s southern section, the department reports it as the first storm to significantly inundate Key Biscayne since Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The island’s last full evacuation was for Hurricane Irma, in 2017.

Is Key Biscayne at risk from hurricanes and flooding?Yes. The entire island is in Evacuation Zone A, the first tier ordered to leave, and it is a designated Special Flood Hazard Area. The Village calls its own evacuations roughly 18 hours before the county does, because the single causeway is the only way off.

Public Safety

Key Biscayne’s police chief, Frank Sousa, reported 129 arrests and 46,160 calls for service in 2024, a year in which overall crime fell 33% from 2023. The FBI’s 2024 City Agency Report separately counted 119 total crime cases for the Village, 111 property and 8 violent, placing it third among Florida’s safest cities that year. More recent department figures show the trend continuing:

Falling arrest and incident counts alongside rising traffic citations point to a department writing more tickets while responding to fewer actual crimes, a combination a single letter grade does not communicate.

Schools

Key Biscayne K-8 Center, at 150 West McIntyre Street, is the designated home school for Village residents, serving grades PK through 8. Federal data lists 884 students, 49.00 full-time-equivalent teachers, and a student-teacher ratio of 18.04. State test data reported by U.S. News shows 76% of students proficient in math and 75% in reading, against district-wide rates of 57% and 54%.

Village residents also get a benefit that has nothing to do with test scores: the Village holds a standing agreement with Miami-Dade Public Schools giving Key Biscayne students limited, priority admission, roughly 450 seats a year, to MAST Academy’s Cambridge STEM and Global Studies tracks on nearby Virginia Key, ahead of the county-wide lottery pool.

Can non-residents attend Key Biscayne’s public schools?Key Biscayne K-8 Center is zoned for Village residents. MAST Academy, the area’s magnet high school option, is open county-wide through an annual lottery, but Key Biscayne residents hold a separate priority allocation of about 450 seats a year under an agreement between the Village and the school district.

Parks and Daily Life

Crandon Park, on the island’s north end, is the larger of the two anchor parks, with a wide swimming beach and golf and tennis facilities suited to a full day out. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, at the south end, centers on the historic Cape Florida Lighthouse and suits a shorter, more focused visit.