Taylor County is a county in Florida, United States, about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee in the state’s Big Bend region. It had a population of 21,796 at the 2020 census, an estimated 21,210 by 2025, and covers 1,043 square miles (2,701 km2) of land centred near 30\u00b006\u2032N 83\u00b035\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Perry is the county seat and only incorporated city; its postal code is 32347. The county holds 1 city, 1 census-designated place and several smaller unincorporated communities. Florida has no civil townships, so places here are organized only by ZIP and by proximity to Perry. Taylor County runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 12123.<\/p>\n
Taylor County has one incorporated city, Perry, plus the census-designated place of Steinhatchee and five smaller unincorporated communities: Keaton Beach, Salem, Shady Grove, Eridu and Boyd. Florida counties carry no townships, so the table below drops that column.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perry<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 6,898<\/td>\n | 32347<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Steinhatchee<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 1,049<\/td>\n | 32359<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Keaton Beach<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Salem<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 32356<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shady Grove<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 32357<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eridu<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Boyd<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Keaton Beach has no ZIP of its own; mail there runs through Steinhatchee’s 32359. Eridu and Boyd are inland crossroads communities with no dedicated post office and no separate Census population count — both are counted inside the county’s unincorporated total rather than as standalone places.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nEridu and Boyd have no ZIP of their own because neither ever held a standalone post office; mail to both routes through Perry’s 32347.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nTaylor County lies in Florida’s Big Bend, where the peninsula’s west coast bends toward the Panhandle. The terrain is flat coastal plain, mostly pine flatwoods and forested wetland, with 1,043 square miles of land against 189 square miles of water — the Gulf of Mexico shoreline and the tidal marsh behind it account for most of that water area. The Fenholloway and Steinhatchee rivers cross the county and drain to the Gulf; St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge extends into the county’s northwest corner. The county has earned the nickname “Tree Capital of the South,” a title given by Governor W. Haydon Burns in 1965, reflecting the pine plantations that still dominate its inland acreage.<\/p>\n Taylor County borders Madison County to the north, Jefferson County to the northwest, Lafayette County to the east, and Dixie County to the southeast. Its southern and southwestern edge is open Gulf of Mexico coastline, with no adjoining county across the water.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nTaylor County had a population of 21,796 at the 2020 census, holding roughly steady at an estimated 21,210 residents through 2025. Perry, the seat, and Steinhatchee are the two largest communities, at 6,898 and 1,049 people respectively; everyone else lives in unincorporated areas. Median household income runs about $49,073, well under the Florida statewide figure of roughly $67,900. Population density works out to about 21 people per square mile of land, well below both the state and national averages, typical of Big Bend’s rural forestry counties.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nRetail trade is the county’s largest employment sector at about 1,072 workers, followed by health care and social assistance at 723 and public administration at 703, out of roughly 7,200 total employed residents. Forestry and forest-products manufacturing remain central to the local economy: Foley Cellulose operates a dissolving-wood-pulp mill outside Perry, one of the county’s largest private employers and the modern descendant of the timber industry that built the town. The Taylor County School District runs four schools, and Big Bend Technical College in Perry trains residents for local trades. The county’s signature annual event is the Florida Forest Festival, held each October in Perry and built around the county’s timber heritage, with a parade, a fish fry and the “world’s largest free fish fry” claim that draws visitors from across the Big Bend.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nFlorida’s legislature created Taylor County on December 23, 1856, carving it out of Madison County and naming it for Zachary Taylor, the twelfth U.S. president, who had commanded federal forces in the Second Seminole War before his 1849 inauguration. Perry was named for Madison Starke Perry, Florida’s governor at the time of the county’s founding, and grew around the timber and turpentine trade that shipped yellow pine out through the Gulf coast landings at Rock Bluff and Fenholloway.<\/p>\n The county’s most recent defining events are two hurricanes that made landfall within its borders 13 months apart. Hurricane Idalia came ashore near Keaton Beach on August 30, 2023, as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds and a storm surge exceeding six feet along the coast. Hurricane Helene followed on September 26, 2024, striking about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds, the strongest storm to hit the Big Bend region since record-keeping began in 1900; local officials estimated 90% of homes in Keaton Beach were destroyed. Both storms reshaped the coastal communities of Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach and remain the reference point for rebuilding decisions across the county.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nNo interstate highway crosses Taylor County. US 19, US 27, US 98 and US 221 all converge in Perry, making the city the county’s transportation hub.<\/p>\n
|