Rank

2196of 3,144

DeSoto, Florida

Score 5.88 / 10· population 35,979

DeSoto County lies between Sarasota, Fort Myers and Lake Okeechobee, and its county seat, Arcadia, sits where US 17 meets State Road 70 on the Peace River. In 2022, rain from Hurricane Ian pushed the Peace River and Horse Creek to record crests, flooding parts of the county. Government jobs were 20.6% of local employment in 2024, close to twice Florida's 11.3%, and natural resource and mining work added 12.4%, against 0.7% statewide.

Sources
  • Arcadia is the county seat of DeSoto County arcadia-fl.gov
  • Arcadia is centrally located between Orlando, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Lake Okeechobee at the crossroads of US 17 and State Route 70 arcadia-fl.gov
  • The Peace River is gauged at SR 70 at Arcadia; Horse Creek is near Arcadia nhc.noaa.gov
  • Hurricane Ian's 2022 rainfall caused freshwater flooding; DeSoto and neighboring counties had significant flooding when the Peace River and Horse Creek crested to record levels nhc.noaa.gov
  • Government was 20.6% of DeSoto County's average annual employment in 2024, versus 11.3% for Florida edr.state.fl.us
  • Natural Resource & Mining was 12.4% of DeSoto County's average annual employment in 2024, versus 0.7% for Florida edr.state.fl.us

v4 — beta, 30 October 2026, sourced values

Compare

Eleven factors

Government behavior

  1. Fraser Institute state ranking (state)7.6
  2. 2A (state)8.0
  3. GOP + LP vote for President7.1
  4. Sales tax3.2
  5. Property tax6.4

Environment

  1. Air quality6.2
  2. Floods / hurricanes0.4

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate6.9
  2. Life expectancy6.9
  3. Government employees2.8
  4. Single-parent households1.4

Neighbors