Laurel, Florida
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Osprey-Laurel-Nokomis census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34275. It stands on Shakett Creek. The Survey maps it on the Laurel quadrangle. 12,186 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1943 to 1988The same ground, surveyed 45 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Laurel
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Johnson Chapel Missionary Baptist Churchlisted 1997
Population over time
2 figuresLaurel grew from 8,171 to 12,186 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 | 8,171 | |
| 2020 | 12,186 | +4,015 (+49%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 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.
- 1943 USGS Laurel quadrangle1:24000
- 1944 USGS Laurel quadrangle1:31680
- 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 Laurel quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS Sarasota quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS St Petersburg quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
143 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 143 fires within 5 miles of Laurel between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,454 acres in total. 64 started naturally. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 64 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 19 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1996 | Natural | 8.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 8 September 1996 | Natural | 30 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 6 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 22 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | 2003-15-1104 |
| 12 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 11 September 1998 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 9 August 2020 | Natural | 7.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | RANCH RD 2 (58) |
| 6 August 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Laurel: 7 producers, 1 past producer, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Calcium, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dot Sarasota - Cow Pen Slough Mine | Sand | Unknown | Sand | |
| Everglades Estates Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Everglades Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Laurel Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Laurel Pit Fla. Truck. & Excava. | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Rigby Pit | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Apac-Florida - Laurel Shell Pit | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone | |
| Deans Contracting - Section 35 Mine | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone | |
| Stephen T. Deans - Section 21 Mine | Limestone, General | Producer | Limestone |
Storms near this place
3 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Laurel in 3 storm reports between 2001 and 2015: 2 thunderstorm wind, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Laurel | $7,000 | Broadcast media relayed a report and pictures of several large trees uprooted or snapped at the bases near Nokomis, FL. The trees were all in a confined area and appeared to be blown down in roughly the same direction (to the west), leading to the conclusion that the damage was caused by a small microburst. |
| December 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Laurel | $5,000 | Eight mobile homes received minor damage to lanais and carports. |
| June 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Laurel | - | The public reported, through WWSB-TV (ABC) of Sarasota, a small tornado that briefly touched down over a sparsely populated, partially wooded area, near the intersection of Interstate 75 and State Road 681, two miles northeast of Laurel in western Sarasota county. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nokomis | 0.9 miles | 14 | |
| Nokomis Beach | 1.0 miles | 13 | |
| Laurel Villa | 1.4 miles | 13 | |
| Venice Beach | 2.1 miles | 14 | |
| Venice | 2.1 miles | 14 | |
| Eastgate | 2.8 miles | 14 | |
| Venice Gardens | 4.6 miles | 14 | |
| Osprey | 5.0 miles | 13 |
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 Laurel | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q425638 | 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 285395. 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.








