Lake County vs Sarasota County

A side-by-side comparison of Lake County and Sarasota County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Sarasota County has the higher population (449,011 vs 398,696 in Lake County). Sarasota County has the higher median household income ($80,633 vs $69,956 in Lake County). Sarasota County has the higher median home value ($373,100 vs $287,900 in Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Lake County	Sarasota County
Population	398,696	449,011
Median age	46.7 yrs	57.3 yrs
Median household income	$69,956	$80,633
Median home value	$287,900	$373,100
Median gross rent	$1,468	$1,715
Housing units	182,666	260,272
Homeownership rate	76.6%	76.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.8%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake County	Sarasota County
Population	345,867 → 398,696 (+15.3%)	419,496 → 449,011 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$54,513 → $69,956 (+28.3%)	$62,236 → $80,633 (+29.6%)
Median home value	$181,400 → $287,900 (+58.7%)	$251,600 → $373,100 (+48.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,084 → $1,468 (+35.4%)	$1,277 → $1,715 (+34.3%)

Lake County

Population

345,867398,696

Median household income

$54,513$69,956

Median home value

$181,400$287,900

Median gross rent

$1,084$1,468

Sarasota County

Population

419,496449,011

Median household income

$62,236$80,633

Median home value

$251,600$373,100

Median gross rent

$1,277$1,715

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake County	Sarasota County
Under 5	4.7%	3.3%
5 to 17	14.4%	10.7%
18 to 24	6.5%	5.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	8.3%
35 to 44	11.4%	8.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	10.5%
55 to 64	13.7%	15.6%
65 to 74	14.3%	18.7%
75 and over	12.3%	18.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake County	Sarasota County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.3%	80.6%
Black or African American	9.8%	4.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.1%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	17.9%	10.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake County	Sarasota County
No high school diploma	9.1%	5.6%
High school graduate	31.0%	25.9%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	28.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.2%	22.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.6%	16.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake County	Sarasota County
Drove alone	73.9%	72.9%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.5%
Walked	1.2%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	13.5%	15.2%
Other means	2.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake County	Sarasota County
1-unit, detached	67.1%	57.3%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	9.6%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	8.3%
20 or more units	4.9%	11.9%
Mobile home & other	17.3%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Lake County	Sarasota County
Poverty rate	9.5%	8.2%
Average household size	2.47	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	30	24
Median year structure built	1996	1987