DeSoto County vs Okeechobee County

A side-by-side comparison of DeSoto County and Okeechobee County: population, income, housing, and more.

DeSoto County and Okeechobee County are counties in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Okeechobee County has the higher population (40,249 vs 34,719 in DeSoto County). Okeechobee County has the higher median household income ($52,288 vs $50,868 in DeSoto County). Okeechobee County has the higher median home value ($179,000 vs $151,500 in DeSoto County).

Population, income & housing

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
Population	34,719	40,249
Median age	42.8 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$50,868	$52,288
Median home value	$151,500	$179,000
Median gross rent	$910	$974
Housing units	15,713	18,532
Homeownership rate	71.3%	74.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.0%	16.1%
Unemployment rate	8.6%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
Population	36,903 → 34,719 (-5.9%)	41,144 → 40,249 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$35,438 → $50,868 (+43.5%)	$41,760 → $52,288 (+25.2%)
Median home value	$87,700 → $151,500 (+72.7%)	$106,000 → $179,000 (+68.9%)
Median gross rent	$687 → $910 (+32.5%)	$772 → $974 (+26.2%)

DeSoto County

Population

36,90334,719

Median household income

$35,438$50,868

Median home value

$87,700$151,500

Median gross rent

$687$910

Okeechobee County

Population

41,14440,249

Median household income

$41,760$52,288

Median home value

$106,000$179,000

Median gross rent

$772$974

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
Under 5	5.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	13.1%	15.6%
18 to 24	8.2%	7.4%
25 to 34	13.5%	12.5%
35 to 44	12.7%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.9%	11.9%
55 to 64	11.8%	13.4%
65 to 74	13.1%	10.6%
75 and over	10.7%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
White (non-Hispanic)	55.5%	62.7%
Black or African American	12.7%	7.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	29.8%	25.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
No high school diploma	27.0%	20.0%
High school graduate	36.8%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	7.4%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
Drove alone	68.2%	73.4%
Carpooled	19.5%	13.4%
Public transit	1.5%	0.8%
Walked	2.8%	2.0%
Bicycle	1.2%	0.9%
Worked from home	5.8%	6.8%
Other means	1.0%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
1-unit, detached	47.4%	51.6%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	1.6%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	36.5%	39.9%

Poverty & households

	DeSoto County	Okeechobee County
Poverty rate	23.1%	19.0%
Average household size	2.49	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	30	26
Median year structure built	1989	1988