Florida Heartland

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The Florida Heartland (also known as South Central Florida) is a region of Florida located to the north and west of Lake Okeechobee, composed of six inland, predominantly rural counties—DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee. In 2020, The US Census Bureau recorded the population of the Florida Heartland region at 251,927. The most populous county in the region is Highlands County (2022 population of 105,618). Highlands County also contains the region's two largest cities - Avon Park (2022 population of 10,046) and Sebring (2022 population of 11,379). Unlike the coastal areas to the east and west, the rural nature of the Florida Heartland is culturally similar to that of the Florida panhandle and the Deep South in general rather than the rest of South Florida. The Florida Heartland region was originally settled and inhabited by Americans of predominantly English ancestry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.^[1] While located in Palm Beach County, the nearby rural cities of South Bay, Belle Glade and Pahokee as well as the census-designated place of Lake Harbor, located on the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee, are more associated with the Florida Heartland than the remainder of South Florida. The same could also apply to the Collier County communities of Immokalee, Ave Maria and Harker as well as to the Martin County community of Port Mayaca. Occasionally included are the southern Polk County communities of Fort Meade, Frostproof and River Ranch as well as Yeehaw Junction in Osceola County.