Collier County, Florida facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Collier County
U.S. county
The Collier County courthouse in April 2010
Flag Seal Logo
Location within the U.S. state of Florida
Florida's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Florida
Founded	May 8, 1923
Named for	Barron Collier
Seat	East Naples
Largest city	Naples
Area
• Total	2,305 sq mi (5,970 km2)
• Land	1,998 sq mi (5,170 km2)
• Water	307 sq mi (800 km2)  13.3%%
Population  (2020)
• Total	375,752
• Density	188/sq mi (73/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional districts	18th, 19th, 26th

Collier County's main administration building, left, and the back end of the county courthouse, right.

Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, its population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from Everglades City in 1962.

Collier County comprises the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which, along with the Cape Coral-Fort Myers (Lee County) MSA and the Clewiston (Hendry County, Glades County) Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA), is included in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

History

Archaeology at Platt Island in the Big Cypress National Preserve shows humans settled in what is now Collier County more than 2000 years ago. The Calusa people had an extensive presence in the area when Europeans arrived.

Ted Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee Island

The county was created in 1923 from Lee County. It was named for Barron Collier, a New York City advertising mogul and real estate developer who had moved to Southwest Florida and established himself as a prominent landowner. He agreed to build the Tamiami Trail for what was then Lee County (comprising today's Collier, Hendry, and Lee Counties) in exchange for favorable consideration with the state legislature to have a county named for him. After Collier County was named, Collier was quoted as saying: "When I first came here on holiday with Juliet, I never expected that I would buy a whole region of it, nor did I expect to pay for the new Tamiami Trail, or half the things I've done. But I really didn't expect to have a whole county named after me."

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,305 square miles (5,970 km²), of which 307 square miles (800 km²) (13.3%) are covered by water. It is the largest county in Florida by land area and fourth-largest by total area. Virtually the entire southeastern portion of the county lies within the Big Cypress National Preserve. The northernmost portion of Everglades National Park extends into the southern coastal part of the county. Chokoloskee, Florida is in the county. The total area of this county is nearly one and a half times the size of Rhode Island, which is the smallest state, and is bigger than Rhode Island and Luxembourg combined.

Adjacent counties

Collier County is located at the southern end of Florida's Gulf Coast, and bounded by:

• Hendry County – north
• Broward County – east
• Miami-Dade County – southeast
• Monroe County – south
• Lee County – northwest

National protected areas

• Big Cypress National Preserve (part)
• Everglades National Park (part)
• Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
• Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge

Transportation

• Everglades Airpark
• Immokalee Airport
• Marco Island Airport
• Naples Municipal Airport
• Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport (mostly unused)

Major highways

• Interstate 75
• U.S. Route 41
• State Road 29
• State Road 84
• State Road 951

Demographics

2010 census

The county continues to experience significant growth and is becoming increasingly diverse. As of the 2010 census, the county's population had increased by 27.9% to 321,520, over the 2000 census. As of the 2010 census, 83.85% of the population was non-Hispanic Whites, 25.9% was Latino or Hispanic, 6.6% was African American, and 1.1% was Asian. As of the 2010 census, the greatest source of population growth in the county since the 2000 census came from the Latino or Hispanic population, which grew from 49,296 (19.6%) to 83,177 (25.9% ). In terms of ancestry, 37.9% were English, 9.9% were Irish, 9.1% were "American", 3.2% were Italian and 3.1% were German.

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, 375,752 people, 140,578 households, and 97,279 families resided in the county.

Education

The county's public schools are operated by the District School Board of Collier County.

Public library

The Collier County Public Library system consists of 10 locations serving the entire county. All locations offer public internet stations, printing, photocopying, free Wi-Fi, and 24/7 drop boxes for book and video returns.

Communities

Cities

• Everglades City
• Marco Island
• Naples

Census-designated places

Community development districts

• Fiddler's Creek District #1
• Fiddler's Creek District #2

Other unincorporated communities

Invasive snake issues

Barefoot Beach Preserve, a Collier County park

Collier is located in the center of Florida's invasive snake epidemic. A three-month effort at the beginning of 2016 netted over one ton of captured snakes, including a Florida record for largest male Burmese python, measuring 16 ft and weighing 140 lb.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Collier para niños