Formed May 8, 1917 (54th county)
Okeechobee County (39,636), Okeechobee (5,237)
A Modern style concrete building serves this county. It was built in 2005 at 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street. The site is one block north of United States Highway 98. Michael A. Shiff and Associates are the building architects. Okeechobee is the only county seat. Both the county and county seat are land for the lake which gets its name for the Native American words for “big water.” The county was created on May 8, 1917 from Osceola County as the 54th county.
Okeechobee County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Nineteen Circuit Court Judges serve Okeechobee, Indian River, and Saint Lucie counties and a County Court Judge, clerk, and county attorney serve Okeechobee County (judicial.) The county is in the southeast part of the state. The Kissimmee River is its western border and Lake Okeechobee is its southern border. The center of the county is 10.4 miles Northwest of Okeechobee nearer Dixie Ranch Acres. The county is surrounded clockwise by Osceola, Indian River, Martin, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, and Polk counties.
The area of the county is 774 square miles. It is 28 out of 67 counties in the state. It ranks 46 out of 67 in population in the state. It has a density of 51.2 persons per square mile making it 48 out of 67 in the state. Okeechobee County has 13.2% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 98 crosses the southern part of the county from Highlands County, west, to Martin County, southeast. United States Highway 441 enters from the north, Osceola County, and exits, south into Martin County. A comma is the shape for the county. The City of Okeechobee is in the southern third of the county. Okeechobee is the county seat and the largest city and only incorporated city. It is 13.2% of the county population. The county and county seat are pronounced OE-KEE-CHOE-BEE. This county is in the Okeechobee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Okeechobee
