A closer look at the cities and communities inside Sarasota County — their parks, government offices, populations, and the neighborhoods worth knowing about as you settle in.
Sarasota is the county seat and cultural hub of Florida's Gulf Coast, known for its bayfront downtown, arts institutions such as The Ringling and the Sarasota Opera, and its proximity to barrier-island beaches.
North Port is the largest city by population in Sarasota County, a fast-growing inland community known for Warm Mineral Springs (Florida's only naturally warm mineral spring) and the master-planned Wellen Park district.
Venice is a barrier-island city laid out in the 1920s in a Northern Italian Renaissance theme, with a walkable historic downtown and beaches famed for fossilized shark teeth, earning it the nickname Shark Tooth Capital of the World.
Siesta Key is a barrier island famous for Siesta Beach's 99% quartz, powder-white sand, repeatedly ranked among the top beaches in the United States, with a lively village of shops and restaurants.
Longboat Key is an affluent incorporated barrier-island Town spanning Sarasota and Manatee counties on the Gulf of America, known for white-sand Gulf beaches, gated golf communities, and upscale resorts.
Englewood is an unincorporated coastal community straddling the Sarasota and Charlotte county line, known for its Old Florida character, the walkable Dearborn Street historic district, and the protected Gulf beaches of Manasota Key.
Fruitville is a primarily residential unincorporated community just east of the city of Sarasota, named for its early citrus-growing history and now home to suburban subdivisions and the Celery Fields birding area.
Osprey is an upscale, established unincorporated community on Little Sarasota Bay, home to the 1,384-acre Oscar Scherer State Park (a stronghold for the threatened Florida scrub-jay) and the historic Bertha Palmer estate at Spanish Point.
Nokomis is a small bayside community just north of Venice, home to Sarasota County's oldest public beach (Nokomis Beach on Casey Key) and the popular North Jetty fishing and swimming spot.
Laurel is a small unincorporated community in south-central Sarasota County between Osprey and Nokomis, largely residential and served entirely by county government, with access to the Legacy Trail.
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