Land Use Study · all 67 Florida counties
Is Sarasota County overdeveloped, or does it just feel that way?
Every Florida county measured with the same four federal and state datasets: what share of its land is built, how fast that share is growing, how much is protected, how much is farmed, and how much is left. Sarasota is compared with all 67 and with the 35 coastal counties.
67 counties, 35 flagged coastal, every source row kept. Built September 3, 2026.
The verdict
Both sides are half right
41.6% developed
Rank 7 of 67. Only Pinellas, Lee, Seminole, Orange, Duval, Hillsborough are more built-out.
+3.7pts in 10 yrs
Rank 5 of 35 coastal on pace. St. Johns, Manatee, Pasco converted land faster.
3.1% uncommitted
About 10,881 acres neither built, protected, nor farmed. Rank 54 of 67 for land left.
The complaint that Sarasota is developing unusually fast does not hold up. Over the last decade Sarasota converted 1,348 acres a year, 3.7 points of its land. St. Johns added 4.6 points; the coastal median was 1.3. On pace Sarasota is a typical fast-growing Gulf county, not an outlier.
The complaint that Sarasota is nearly full does hold up. 41.6% of the county is already developed against a coastal median of 23.1%. Add the 34.1% in conservation and the 20.2% in working farms and ranches, and roughly 3.1% of the county is left uncommitted. Of the 35 coastal counties, only Indian River, Martin, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Miami-Dade have less.
That is why it feels the way it does. When a county has 10,881 spare acres, every new project is visible, and every one comes out of the pasture or scrub that residents drive past. The same 1,348 acres a year that would vanish in Polk or Marion changes the look of Sarasota.
Side by side
Sarasota against 67 counties and 35 coastal counties
| Measure | Sarasota | Coastal median | Florida median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Developed, % of land (2024) All four USGS developed classes | 41.6 | 23.1 | 14.3 | 7 of 67 · 5 of 35 coastal |
Built-up only, % of land (2024) Low/medium/high intensity; excludes lawns and parks | 30.2 | 15.9 | 7.8 | 7 of 67 · 5 of 35 coastal |
Impervious surface, % of land Literal asphalt and roof | 13.0 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 8 of 67 · 6 of 35 coastal |
Developed share added, 2014→24 Percentage points of land converted in the decade | +3.7 | +1.3 | +0.8 | 6 of 67 · 5 of 35 coastal |
Acres developed per year, 2014→24 Absolute pace | 1,348 | 573 | 353 | 14 of 67 · 9 of 35 coastal |
Conservation land, % of land FNAI, all owners, Jan 2026 | 34.1 | 31.3 | 27.7 | 24 of 67 · 17 of 35 coastal |
Land in farms, % of land USDA Census of Agriculture 2022 | 20.2 | 18.2 | 24.0 | 39 of 67 · 14 of 35 coastal |
Uncommitted land, % of land Neither developed, protected, nor farmed (1 = most left) | 3.1 | 14.2 | 22.5 | 54 of 67 · 29 of 35 coastal |
Housing units permitted per sq mi, 2014→24 Census Building Permits Survey | 108 | 26 | 21 | 4 of 67 · 3 of 35 coastal |
Population growth, 2020→24 Census Vintage 2024 | 9.2% | 9.5% | 7.8% | 26 of 67 · 19 of 35 coastal |
Rank 1 = highest value. The spreadsheet has the same table for every county and every metric, plus the raw source rows.
Where the land went
Sarasota's 355,841 acres in 2024
151,616acres
Developed — 42.6% of land
121,460acres
Conservation, all owners — 34.1%. Local government holds 52,740 of them.
71,878acres
Land in farms — 20.2%
10,881acres
Uncommitted — 3.1%
Sarasota protects more of itself than most: 34.1% in conservation ranks 24 of 67, and its 52,740 acres of county- and city-owned preserves rank 1 in the state as a share of land. The conservation program is not the problem. The consequence is arithmetic: a county that has built 41.6% and protected 34.1% is now deciding what to do with its last fifth of working land, which is exactly where the eastern-county fights are.
Sources and method
What was measured, and what was not
Sources, all public, all downloaded and kept in the workbook
- USGS Annual National Land Cover Database via the MRLC Land Cover Atlas: developed and impervious percentages and full class-change tables for 2001, 2014, 2024.
- Florida Natural Areas Inventory, Conservation Lands by County (January 2026): federal, state, local, and private acres.
- USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture county profiles: land in farms, cropland, pasture. Five counties suppressed by USDA and marked.
- Census Bureau: 2020 land area and urban/rural split, Vintage 2024 population, Building Permits Survey 2014–2024.
Limits, stated so no one has to find them
- Land cover is measured from 30-meter satellite pixels; the developed share includes lawns, golf courses, and road shoulders. The built-up and impervious rows exclude them.
- Conservation and farm acreage overlap where easements sit on working ranches, so the uncommitted figure is an approximation and, if anything, a high one.
- Traffic is not in this pass. Congestion is a road-network question, and the counts should come from FDOT before anything is said about it.
- Nothing here says whether growth is good or bad. It says how much, how fast, and compared with whom.