Formed May 14, 1921 (60th county)
Sarasota County (434,005), Sarasota (54,840), North Port (74,798)
A stucco Spanish-Mediterranean Revival building is the courthouse in Sarasota County. It was built in 1927 and sits on Ringling Street between Washington Boulevard and Fletcher Street. The building is on United States Highway 301. It was enlarged in 1955 and 1965. A Judicial Center was added in 1998. Dwight James Baum is the courthouse architect. An Administration Center was purchased and renovated in 1972 and a South Administration Center in Venice augments. Sarasota has always been the county seat.
Sarasota County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Twenty-two Circuit Court Judges serve Sarasota, DeSoto, and Manatee counties and Four County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Sarasota County (judicial.) The county is located in west central Florida just south of Tampa, Florida. The Gulf of Mexico is its western border. The center of the county is 12.5 miles Southeast of Sarasota nearer Lake Sarasota. The county is surrounded clockwise by Manatee, De Soto, and Charlotte counties and the Gulf of Mexico. The county and county seat were named for either the daughter of explorer De Soto, Sara, or they are Native American for “place of dancing.” Hillsborough County provided the land for the county on May 14, 1921 as the 60th county.
The area of the county is 572 square miles. It is 49 out of 67 counties in the state. It ranks 14 out of 67 in population in the state. It has a density of 758.8 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 67 in the state. Sarasota County has 36.8% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 75 goes north to south from Manatee County to De Soto County. United States Highway 41 parallels Interstate Highway 75 from Manatee County but going directly into Charlotte County. The county is shaped like a funnel with an extension out of the southeast. Sarasota is in the northwest corner of the county on the coast. North Port is on the southern border. Sarasota is the county seat and North Port is the largest city. Sarasota is 12.6% of the county population while North Port is 17.2% of the county population. This county is in the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.
North Port
Sarasota
Venice
Longboat Key
