The following information illustrates the change in population within the watershed during the past few decades. Statistics shown are only for the watershed area within the boundary of this Water Atlas.

Total Population within each Watershed from 1970-2020

Watershed	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2020
Little Manatee River Watershed	NO DATA	192	NO DATA	619	1,162	2,150	Graph
Manatee River Watershed	49,826	74,048	102,545	138,783	189,658	246,558	Graph
Myakka River Watershed	603	1,086	1,863	3,282	4,313	3,923	Graph
Peace River Watershed	NO DATA	NO DATA	NO DATA	26	40	NO DATA	Graph
Sarasota Bay Coastal Watershed	40,574	64,558	93,794	102,195	101,984	93,143	Graph
Tampa Bay Coastal Watershed	6,393	8,920	13,505	18,333	25,591	22,801	Graph
Totals for All Watershed Areas	97,396	148,804	211,707	263,238	322,748	368,575

Source(s): U.S. Department of Commerce

The Florida Natural Areas Inventory is the primary source for information on Florida's conservation lands. The Inventory database includes boundaries and statistics for more than 1,400 federal, state, local, and private managed areas, all provided directly by the managing agencies. National parks, state forests, wildlife management areas, local and private preserves are examples of the managed areas included.

Land Cover categorizes the land in terms of the observed physical surface characteristics. For example, while the land use may be classified as agricultural, the land cover may be classified as upland or wetland. Learn more about land use and land cover »