[1] Part of the refuge is inside the town of Jupiter Island, while the rest is in the unincorporated areas of Martin County.

[2] Within the refuge is the 173-acre (0.70 km2) Reed Wilderness Seashore Sanctuary, designated a National Natural Landmark in November 1967.

[4] In July 2013, approximately 200,000 cubic yards (150,000 m3) of beach-quality material was dredged from the St. Lucie Inlet Federal channel and impoundment basin and placed on the downdrift beaches of Jupiter Island in the vicinity of the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, with funding provided to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from the U.S.

It is a coastal refuge bisected by the Indian River Lagoon into two separate tracts of land totaling over 1000 acres.

The 735-acre (297 ha) Jupiter Island tract provides some of the most productive sea turtle nesting habitat in the United States, and the 300-acre (120 ha) sand pine scrub mainland tract is valued because more than 90 percent of this community type has been lost to development in Florida.