With Hurricane Season Underway, It’s Important To Know Where You Live. Many People Don’t.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher | BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — It’s time to shock new residents to Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach: your new home in Boca, Delray, or Boynton may very well not be in Boca, Delray, or Boynton. This is the time of year that new residents to the area find out that they don’t necessarily live where they think they live. An important fact with hurricane season underway.
Palm Beach County is a mix of city addresses and “unincorporated Palm Beach County” addresses that sound like they’re part of a city but actually aren’t. It makes a difference for everything from policing to trash collection, emergency services to taxing, library cards to beach access. For example: if you bought a new home in a new (GL Homes or Lennar) community of high priced homes that has a “Boca Raton” address, the odds are excellent that you live in unincorporated Palm Beach County. You’re serviced by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Your water comes from Palm Beach County. And if you want a parking permit for the beach, you’re going to pay significantly more than people who truly live in the city. Conversely, if you just moved to a condo near Mizner Park, you live in the City of Boca Raton. You are truly a “Boca Raton” resident and are served by Boca Raton Police, Boca Raton Fire Rescue, and you are taxed by the City of Boca Raton.
Using the map above, (and this database for Boca) you can determine whether you are serviced by a city or by Palm Beach County. If you live in a color, you are serviced by a city. If you live in the white area, you are a resident of Unincorporated Palm Beach County.
It’s vital to know the difference when a storm approaches. You need to know who to call if you need help. If we announce that water service is affected in a certain area, it’s vital to know that if it affects you.
The confusion isn’t necessarily the fault of the resident. Builders, Realtors, HOA’s and Country Clubs have been very good over the years at using a “Boca Raton,” “Delray Beach,” or “Boynton Beach” address to lure home buyers to the region — only for those home buyers to find out later that they live several miles from the city they believed they were moving to. This is the time to find out exactly where you live so you know the correct action to take if a disaster occurs.
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