Mayo
Start with Mayo to understand the established center, nearby services and everyday rhythm within Lafayette County.
Complete Florida county guide
Lafayette
County
One of Florida’s smallest counties, centered on rural community life, the Suwannee River and extensive natural landscapes.
Rivers, springs and old FloridaNorth Florida & First Coast
REGIONNorth Florida & First Coast
COMMUNITIES TO START WITHMayo · Day
LIFESTYLE SIGNALSLow density · River life · Rural
Start with daily life
What Lafayette County feels like before you choose a neighborhood.
One of Florida’s smallest counties, centered on rural community life, the Suwannee River and extensive natural landscapes.
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
- 8,161Census estimate
- At the last full count
- 8,2262020 Census
- Median age
- 42.3
- Aged 65 and over
- 21.4%
- Under 18
- 17.3%
- Median household income
- $62,757
- Median home value
- $157,200what owners estimate
- Homeownership
- 77.2%
- People per household
- 2.55
- Average commute
- 30.1 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
Low densityRiver lifeRural
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.
Day
Use Day to compare housing patterns, main-road access and the shopping or medical stops used during a normal week.
Hospitals in Lafayette County
No licensed hospital inside Lafayette County.
The state's hospital list names none in the county. Its search by address finds the hospitals nearest any home you are considering.
How do I compare hospitals in Florida? →How do I find a doctor who takes Medicare? →Find the hospitals nearest an address ↗
Source: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder, Locate a Facility (hospitals), read September 25, 2026.
Evergreen county experiences
7 places that reveal the county.
Use enduring natural, historic and cultural places to understand the area beyond a real-estate showing.
Troy Spring State Park
The Madison was a Confederate sidewheel paddle steamer working the Suwannee River. In September 1863 her captain, James Felix Tucker, took her into the mouth of this spring and scuttled her rather than let the Union navy have her.
Suwannee River
Everything in this county faces the Suwannee or turns its back on it. The two state parks are on it, Troy Spring and Lafayette Blue Springs, and both exist because first-magnitude springs feed into it here.
Steinhatchee Springs Wildlife Management Area
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission runs it in cooperation with the Suwannee River Water Management District. The Steinhatchee River is the spine of it: twenty-eight miles from its start in the upper reaches of Mallory Swamp down to the Gulf, and north of Tennille it drops underground and comes back up about half a mile further south, which is ordinary behavior for a river crossing limestone and still catches people out.
Adams Tract River Camp
No vehicles come in here. It is one of five camps on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, set a day's paddle apart so that a person can work down the river staying under a roof each night, and it sits a few miles upriver from Troy Spring State Park.
Lafayette Blue Springs State Park
The spring runs on the western bank of the Suwannee. Water comes up out of deep sinkholes in the hardwood forest above, runs down a ravine, disappears and surfaces again lower down, and the road and the trail here both rest on natural bridges left by that karst.
Mallory Swamp Wildlife Management Area
The Suwannee River Water Management District owns it and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission manages it with them. A serious wildfire went through in 2001 and the place is still recovering from it, which is the honest thing to say about the look of the ground in parts.
R.O. Ranch Equestrian Park
The main entrance is at 10807 South State Road 51. More than twenty-five miles of trail run through it, flat and easy, and wide enough that wagons and carts can use them as well as riders, which is unusual and is the reason carriage drivers come here.
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 ↗QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS COUNTY
Compare nearby counties
See the alternatives before you narrow the map.
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Jasper · Jennings · White SpringsHamilton CountySpaceRiversInterstate access
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Live Oak · Branford · WellbornSuwannee CountySpringsAgricultureConnectivity
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Cross City · Horseshoe Beach · Old TownDixie CountyNature CoastFishingAffordable space
Open comparison guide →