Jury Pool Profile

Highlands County, Florida

Republican +41 (2024)

Population: 103,808
Median household income: $55,581
Unemployment: 6.0%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 75,374 72.6%
Black or African American alone 9,763 9.4%
Asian alone 1,559 1.5%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 619 0.6%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 32 0.0%
Some other race alone 6,358 6.1%
Two or more races 10,103 9.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 22,310 21.5%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 54.2

Under 18 17,477 16.8%
18–24 5,836 5.6%
25–44 19,502 18.8%
45–64 23,693 22.8%
65 and over 37,300 35.9%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 6.0%; +1.89 pp vs. state
County GDP: $3.8B; 0.22% of state
Avg. annual pay: $47,926
Establishments: 2,672

U.S. BLS 2026M02 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2024

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 9,153 31.8%
Trade, transportation & utilities 5,813 20.2%
Leisure & hospitality 4,006 13.9%
Professional & business services 2,222 7.7%
Construction 1,871 6.5%
Public administration 1,621 5.6%
Natural resources & mining 1,530 5.3%
Financial activities 935 3.2%
Other services 737 2.6%
Manufacturing 733 2.5%
Information 156 0.5%
Unclassified 44 0.2%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 78.9%
Median gross rent: $980
Owner-occupied: 36,257
Renter-occupied: 9,686

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 51,905 votes cast

Republican 36,382 70.1%
Democratic 15,227 29.3%
Other / third-party 296 0.6%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

79.7% speak only English at home

Spanish 17,319 17.4%
French (incl. Cajun) 585 0.6%
Other Indo-European 576 0.6%
Tagalog 528 0.5%
Other Asian/Pacific 444 0.4%
Other 268 0.3%
German 184 0.2%
Chinese 122 0.1%
Vietnamese 86 0.1%
Arabic 59 0.1%
Slavic languages 56 0.1%
Korean 16 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 45,943
Family households: 28,651; 62.4% of households
Married w/ children: 22,112
Single-mother households: 1,950
Veterans: 9,508; 11% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

51.6% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 26,619 26.3%
Catholic 16,290 16.1%
Mainline Protestant 5,035 5.0%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 2,733 2.7%
Black Protestant 1,528 1.5%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 87.3%
With a disability: 21.8%
Bachelor's or higher: 19.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 10th Judicial Circuit Court
Judges: 30 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); County Court judges (limited jurisdiction — claims ≤ $50,000, misdemeanors, traffic) separate. Vintage 2026 flcourts.gov; statutory judgeships are reauthorized annually by the Florida Supreme Court's certification of need under Fla. Stat. § 26.031 and may shift by ±1-2 between sessions. Counts for smaller rural circuits (3rd, 16th) are statutory minimums per § 26.031.)
Court seats: Bartow, Sebring, Wauchula

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Florida statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 14; 16.22 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 11

NHTSA FARS 2023