The Florida population increase has been well documented, there’s a rush of people moving to Florida. People are leaving areas like New York and flocking to the sunshine state. Just two weeks ago, a Georgia couple moved into my neighborhood in Estero. There’s constant building all over Fort Myers, too. But it’s not all of Florida people are moving to. There are some definite hot spots. Axios reports that between April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022 “the fastest growing county in Florida was Sumter County, where part of The Villages is located, jumping more than 11%.” Locally, we’re seeing it as well. The change in population from 2020-2022 in Collier County was 5.5%. The latest population estimate from 2022 for Collier County was 397,994.
Lee County saw a big jump as well. From April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022 Lee County grew 7.4% up to 822,453. Charlotte County grew 7.8% during that time period. Up to 202,661 people. Moving just up the coast, Sarasota County has a population increase of 6%. The latest survey has them at 462,286.
But the Florida population growth isn’t statewide. Nine Florida counties actually lost population in the April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022 time frame. Axios states “The biggest drop, by percentage, happened in Lafayette County, which lost 5.2% of its population during that time” Realistically, though, Lafayette County only has 7,786 people so the drop was only 428 people. There’s much bigger counties on this list.
And a note, I didn’t arbitrarily pick those dates. This is US Census data that was released March 2023. Here’s the Florida counties that have lost population.
