476,604 people (2024 Census estimate, +9.2% since 2020)
556 square miles of land · 857 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
14 active community water systems list Sarasota County in the area they serve, reporting 481,933 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SARASOTA CO SPECIAL UTIL DIST buys surface water · local government · FL6581591 | 272,267 served |
| NORTH PORT UTILITIES surface water · local government · FL6580651 | 61,163 served |
| SARASOTA-CITY OF groundwater · local government · FL6580326 | 55,364 served |
| ENGLEWOOD WATER DIST groundwater · public/private · FL6580531 | 38,265 served |
| VENICE WATER DEPT CITY OF groundwater · local government · FL6581901 | 31,358 served |
| PLURIS-SOUTH GATE UTILITIES buys surface water · private · FL6588003 | 15,897 served |
| SUN OUTDOORS SARASOTA groundwater · private · FL6581741 | 3,800 served |
| CAMELOT LAKES groundwater · private · FL6584439 | 1,700 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 1,074 people were held in Sarasota County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 949.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Sarasota County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $775.7 million — $632.6 million to run schools, about $14,033 per student, plus $113.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $652.2 million local (mostly property tax), $74 million state, $80.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $77.5 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Sarasota County about $273 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
299 bridges in Sarasota County: 176 in good condition, 123 fair, and 0 poor (0.0%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $286.5 million of work in Sarasota County in fiscal 2025, about $660 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
General election: Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Last day to register to vote: 2026-10-05. Vote-by-mail request due by 5 pm: 2026-10-22. Early voting — the statewide minimum: 2026-10-24 to 2026-10-31. Election Day — and mail ballots must arrive: 2026-11-03.
Source: Florida Division of Elections — election dates · WPTV, 2026 deadlines · Florida Division of Elections — early voting
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Sarasota County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Sarasota County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Florida: the state government and every county in Florida.
Nearby counties: Manatee County (17 mi) · Charlotte County (34 mi) · DeSoto County (38 mi) · Hardee County (41 mi) · Hillsborough County (46 mi) · Pinellas County (52 mi).