Desoto Lakes, Florida
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1947 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Sarasota census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34235. The Survey maps it on the Bee Ridge quadrangle. 2,137 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 30 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1947 to 1988The same ground, surveyed 41 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresDesoto Lakes fell from 3,646 to 2,137 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 3,646 | |
| 2020 | 2,137 | -1,509 (-41%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1947 USGS Bee Ridge quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Bee Ridge quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS Sarasota quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS St Petersburg quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
63 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 63 fires within 5 miles of Desoto Lakes between 1992 and 2017, burning about 289 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Natural | 12 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | UNIVERSITY DESOTO (58) |
| 5 August 2009 | Natural | 4.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 58-RICHARDSON FIRE-0467 |
| 19 August 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 7 July 1994 | Natural | 4.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 25 July 2003 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | HONORE FIRE |
| 19 July 1993 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 25 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 15 July 1995 | Natural | 2.5 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 15 July 1995 | Natural | 20 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Desoto Lakes: 5 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 plant. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Dolomite, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Road Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Newburn Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Piney Point Nu-Gulf | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Plant | ||
| Sarasota Dolomite Quarry | Dolomite | Occurrence | ||
| Gator Asphalt Paving Reclaimed Concrete Operation | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone | |
| Quality Aggregates - Richardson Rd. Pit | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone | |
| Quality Aggregates - University Park Mine | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone |
Storms near this place
2 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Desoto Lakes in 2 storm reports between 2012 and 2022: 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2012 | Heavy Rain | Desoto Lakes | $140,000 | A relatively small rain shower developed over Interstate 75 near Sarasota, lowering visibility and reducing traction on the road. As a result, a 47 car pileup ensued as cars entering the shower did not have enough distance ahead of them to stop. A total of 52 patients were treated for minor injuries, included 19 taken to area hospitals. Total damage of $140,000 was calculated by conservatively estimating $3,000 per vehicle. |
| May 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Desoto Lakes | - | Broadcast media shared multiple public videos received of brief tornado touchdown near Desoto Lakes with no damage reported. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington Park | 0.9 miles | 13 | |
| Beverley Terrace | 0.9 miles | 14 | |
| The Meadows | 1.3 miles | 13 | |
| Desoto Acres | 1.5 miles | 14 | |
| North Sarasota | 1.5 miles | 14 | |
| Belspur | 2.8 miles | 13 | |
| Pinecraft | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| Sarasota | 3.2 miles | 14 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Desoto Lakes | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2570514 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1867135. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







