Clewiston
Start with Clewiston to understand the established center, nearby services and everyday rhythm within Hendry County.
Complete Florida county guide
Hendry
County
Agriculture, Lake Okeechobee access, river country and lower-density towns define an inland alternative between the Atlantic and Gulf metros.
Tropical FloridaSouth Florida & the Keys
REGIONSouth Florida & the Keys
COMMUNITIES TO START WITHClewiston · LaBelle · Port LaBelle
LIFESTYLE SIGNALSAgriculture · Space · Lake access
Start with daily life
What Hendry County feels like before you choose a neighborhood.
Agriculture, Lake Okeechobee access, river country and lower-density towns define an inland alternative between the Atlantic and Gulf metros.
Use this guide as a first-pass planning tool. On a scouting trip, compare actual commute routes, insurance requirements, medical access, school or training options and the places you would use in an ordinary week—not only the best-known attraction.
The numbers that matter if you are moving
- Population
- 42,382Census estimate
- At the last full count
- 39,6192020 Census
- Median age
- 35.8
- Aged 65 and over
- 13.8%
- Under 18
- 24.9%
- Median household income
- $56,393
- Median home value
- $219,200what owners estimate
- Homeownership
- 73.6%
- People per household
- 2.83
- Average commute
- 31.4 minutes
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, published January 2026, read September 19, 2026. Survey figures are estimates; median home value is what owners estimate their home is worth, not a sale price.
COUNTY LIFESTYLE THEMES
AgricultureSpaceLake access
Relocation decision desk
Six checks before you choose a county.
Property cost, flood and wind, schools, healthcare, daily travel and storm readiness.
How to research a Florida county →Communities to compare
Begin with the county’s major places.
These are starting points, not a ranking. Add nearby towns and neighborhoods as you learn your daily route and housing priorities.
LaBelle
Use LaBelle to compare housing patterns, main-road access and the shopping or medical stops used during a normal week.
Port LaBelle
Walk or drive through Port LaBelle at different times of day to judge traffic, neighborhood character and access to outdoor space.
Hospitals in Hendry County
One hospital with an emergency room.
From the state's own hospital list. Each card opens the state's record for that hospital: its address, phone, services and inspection reports.
How do I compare hospitals in Florida? →How do I find a doctor who takes Medicare? →Search the state's hospital list ↗
Source: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder, Locate a Facility (hospitals), read September 25, 2026.
Evergreen county experiences
9 places that reveal the county.
Use enduring natural, historic and cultural places to understand the area beyond a real-estate showing.
Clewiston Museum
The Clewiston Museum sits at 109 Central Avenue in Clewiston and covers a surprising spread of subjects for a building this size. The exhibits run to fossils, the sugar industry, the cattle business, commercial fishing on Lake Okeechobee, the hurricanes that shaped this shore, the Seminole people, and what the museum files under Flying Brits.
Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail
The Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail runs along the crown of the Herbert Hoover Dike, the forty-foot earth wall built around Lake Okeechobee after the hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. Those two storms are the reason for everything here: in 1926 the levee on the west side gave way and about 300 people died around Moore Haven, and in 1928 at least 2,500 died.
Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest
Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest covers 32,370 acres between LaBelle and Immokalee, off State Road 29 east of Fort Myers, with headquarters at 6265 Keri Road in Felda. Local people call it OK Slough. The slough is the northernmost rainfall draining into the Big Cypress Swamp, and the forest exists to protect those headwaters south of the Caloosahatchee.
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum is run by the Seminole Tribe of Florida on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation at 34725 West Boundary Road, Clewiston, about eighteen miles from exit 49 off Interstate 75. It is the tribe's own museum, telling its own history rather than somebody else's version of it.
Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area
Dinner Island Ranch covers 21,707 acres on County Road 833, about 29 miles southwest of Clewiston. It is unusual in that it is a working ranch and public land at the same time, managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with cattle still part of how the ground is kept.
Gatorama
Cecil Clemons opened Gatorama at Palmdale in 1957, which makes it one of the oldest roadside attractions left in Florida. Allen and Patty Register bought it in 2006 and still run it. It is a working farm rather than a zoo: alligators and crocodiles are raised here for meat and skins, and exotic meat is sold at the park and online.
Sugar Express
Locomotive 148 was built in April 1920 by the American Locomotive Company at Richmond, Virginia, for the Florida East Coast Railway, a 4-6-2 Pacific that worked passenger and freight between Jacksonville and Miami and ran the Overseas Railroad to Key West until the 1935 hurricane destroyed that line. U.S. Sugar bought her in 1952 and put her to hauling sugarcane from the fields to the mills at Clewiston, which she did until 1968, when diesels took over and she was retired.
LaBelle Heritage Museum
LaBelle is the seat of Hendry County, eighteen miles east of Fort Myers where State Roads 80 and 29 cross, on the Caloosahatchee River. Captain Francis Asbury Hendry, a Civil War veteran and rancher, named the place for his daughters Laura and Carrie Belle.
Barron Park
Barron Park sits on De Soto Avenue in LaBelle, on the Caloosahatchee River that the town calls itself the Belle of. For most of the year it is an ordinary riverfront town park with walking paths, river views and marina and boating facilities nearby, in a town of under 5,000 people where the courthouse and the cattle business are still what everything turns on.
Official planning desk
Check current public information before making the move.
Florida disaster preparedness mapsOfficial evacuation-zone, route and storm-surge planning maps.
Open official source ↗
Florida school accountability reportsCurrent state school and district accountability information.
Open official source ↗
Florida community health dataCounty-level public health indicators and community reports.
Open official source ↗
Florida housing resourcesState resources for homebuyers, renters and local assistance programs.
Open official source ↗Compare nearby counties
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