With all the projects emerging in 2026 in Lee and Collier counties to serve a growing population, no facet or region of Southwest Florida life will be untouched in the coming year, with new housing, shopping, entertainment, schools and medical care.
Regardless of the catastrophic hit taken from this decade’s monster Hurricane Ian and subsequent damaging storms, new county-level data released in December foresees massive growth to continue in Southwest Florida based in part on the latest research from the state that looks all the way out to 2050.
Lee by then will have reached 1.18 million, a 57% surge from the 750,000 in 2019, which county reports used as the base. Collier will have hit close to 525,000, a more modest jump of nearly 39% from 2019’s 378,000. Combined, that’s well over a half-million new arrivals ― equal to nearly 30 incorporated cities of Naples…