Amount of debt securities categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading, excluding restricted investments.

No definition available.

Name:	joe_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecuritiesExcludingRestrictedInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of Issuers

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	joe_NumberofIssuers
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of currency on hand as well as demand deposits with banks or financial institutions. Includes other kinds of accounts that have the general characteristics of demand deposits. Also includes short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates. Excludes cash and cash equivalents within disposal group and discontinued operation.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3044-108585

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82887183&loc=d3e6676-107765

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of investment in equity security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (FV-NI).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99377092&loc=SL75136599-209740

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesFvNi
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_USTreasurySecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_PreferredStockMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ExternalCreditRatingByGroupingAxis=us-gaap_ExternalCreditRatingNonInvestmentGradeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CorporateDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ExternalCreditRatingByGroupingAxis=us-gaap_ExternalCreditRatingInvestmentGradeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Concentrations (Details) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) issuer	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)
Concentration risk
Investments - debt securities	$ 13,177	$ 76,245
Investments - equity securities	35,144
Cash and cash equivalents	200,884	$ 192,083	$ 166,773
U.S. Treasury securities
Concentration risk
Investments - debt securities	10,000
Preferred stock
Concentration risk
Investments - equity securities	$ 35,100
Commercial paper
Concentration risk
Number of issuers \| issuer	13
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 175,200
Non-investment grade \| Corporate debt securities
Concentration risk
Investments - debt securities	$ 3,200
Number of issuers \| issuer	2
Non-investment grade \| Preferred stock
Concentration risk
Number of issuers \| issuer	4
Investment grade \| Preferred stock
Concentration risk
Number of issuers \| issuer	1