Hurricane Michael (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Loss contingency
Insurance proceeds		$ 279
Loss from hurricane damage	$ 55	322
Proceeds from settlement received		5,798
Hurricane Michael.
Loss contingency
Proceeds from business interruption insurance	700	0
Insurance proceeds	0	300
Loss from hurricane damage	$ 100	$ 300

Proceeds from business interruption insurance.

No definition available.

Name:	joe_BusinessInterruptionLossInsuranceRecovery
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of expense from ancillary business-related activities related to a natural disaster.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	joe_NonoperatingExpenseNaturalDisaster
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount recovered from insurance. These recoveries reduce costs and losses that are reported as a separate line item under operating expenses.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=116634182&loc=SL114868664-224227

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_InsuranceRecoveries
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

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

- Definition

Amount of cash inflow for proceeds from settlement of insurance claim, classified as investing activities. Excludes insurance settlement classified as operating activities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 21B
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=SL94080549-108585

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 12
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=d3e3179-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProceedsFromInsuranceSettlementInvestingActivities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesByNatureOfContingencyAxis=us-gaap_LossFromCatastrophesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: