The Rural Renaissance: Doubling Florida’s GDP in our 31 Rural Counties

Investing in rural Florida means investing in the future of Florida. Creating new economic activity and increasing productivity across sectors in rural areas aligns with the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida 2030 Blueprint goal of doubling (from 2018 to 2030) the rural county share of Florida’s GDP to 5.56%. Currently, rural counties account for 2.92% of Florida’s $1.6 trillion GDP. 

As Senator Ben Albritton emphasized at the Florida Chamber’s 2025 Legislative Fly-in, Florida must prepare for a “rural renaissance” to drive opportunity and economic growth in Florida’s 31 rural counties. This rural renaissance involves a comprehensive approach to modernizing Florida’s longstanding economic and infrastructure development, which will strengthen businesses rooted in these communities, attract new business, and support the families that live there.

Florida’s rural counties account for a small share of Florida’s overall GDP, but these counties have outpaced non-rural counties in GDP growth since the launch of the Florida 2030 Blueprint plan. Between 2018 to 2023, non-rural Florida counties experienced 49.1% GDP growth, whereas rural Florida counties experienced 56.6% GDP growth over that time—6.5 percentage points higher. There have even been a few rural counties that have achieved extraordinary GDP growth, such as Liberty (166.7%), Okeechobee (129.7%), and Walton (83.8%). In fact, year-over-year growth comparisons show that rural counties experienced higher GDP growth rates than non-rural counties in every recent year except for 2021.

The potential for rural economic growth is clear—but Florida leaders should prioritize economic development and infrastructure investments to accelerate this momentum, topics discussed year-round by the Florida Chamber’s Infrastructure Coalition.

Key areas for investment include transportation infrastructure, manufacturing, AgTech, broadband internet access, and upskilling the local workforce.

“Florida’s rural counties, like Hardee County, play a big role in Florida’s economy. Nearly 300 new businesses launched in 2023, driving innovation and growth in these areas. Strategic investments are helping fuel business expansion, create jobs, and improve infrastructure. It’s not just good for rural communities—it’s boosting Florida’s economy as a whole.”

– Kaylee Webb, Executive Director, Hardee County Chamber of Commerce

Expanding transportation infrastructure is vital for rural economic growth. 

Rural counties rely on efficient logistics systems to be connected to urban markets and national supply chains. Rural businesses, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing, and forestry rely heavily on transportation networks to move products into the market effectively. Poor infrastructure can cause issues with efficiency and time to market, thereby increasing costs.

Rural areas near major highways, ports, or rail lines that develop effective logistics hubs will attract businesses that need reliable transportation linkages. One of the Florida 2030 Blueprint’s 39 goals aims to “double goods exports and triple services exports”, a goal only achievable if Florida’s rural infrastructure supports agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, and other related industries (e.g., data centers).

Also, there are 15,241 unemployed Floridians looking for work in rural counties. Florida boasts adding 28,900 construction industry jobs to the economy over the last year (4.5% growth, the highest industry job growth in Florida). Targeting construction to those rural projects to further develop transportation and logistics infrastructure can continue this trend for the rural workforce, providing new employment opportunities.

Current investment in rural Florida infrastructure is already yielding results in business expansion, job creation, improved logistics, utilities, and community facilities. The Rural Infrastructure Fund, administered by the Florida Department of Commerce, provided a total of $50M in grants across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years for rural counties seeking to improve their local infrastructure. Recent Rural Infrastructure Fund projects include improvements to drainage systems, upgrades to water and sewer infrastructure, and enhancements to transportation networks such as airport access roads and road resurfacing improvements.

“Investing in Florida’s rural communities is vital to ensuring long-term economic growth and prosperity across our state. Residents of rural Florida are hardworking and highly skilled, exactly what manufacturers look for in a workforce, and manufacturers provide abundant opportunities for job seekers. With manufacturing companies looking to reshore and expand in Florida, this is the perfect time to strategically invest in the sites and infrastructure that will create opportunities for residents in rural areas of our states.”

– Jason Mahon, Chief Manufacturing Officer, FloridaCommerce

Manufacturing is also a key area for expansion in rural Florida.

Currently, 4.9% of all jobs in Florida are in the manufacturing sector. To continue to be globally competitive and increase the export of goods to boost our economy, Florida leaders should focus on expanding our manufacturing sector across Florida. Rural areas offer abundant space and affordable land for large-scale manufacturing facilities. As Florida continues to develop infrastructure for access to major highways, rail networks, and logistics centers in rural counties, these geographic locations will be the ideal setting for manufacturing expansion. Further, manufacturing jobs provide high-wage opportunities for a ready workforce of Floridians in rural counties.

Investments in agriculture technology (AgTech) can accelerate Florida’s agricultural industry.

Florida’s agriculture industry feeds the world. By combining research and 5 development (R&D) and agriculture, technology and innovation-based investments can help leverage rural Florida’s assets. Advanced AgTech, such as precision farming and AI-driven analytics can increase crop yields and reduce waste. Other innovations such as GPS-guided tractors, drones for crop monitoring and internet-enabled irrigation systems will also increase efficiency to drive agriculture growth in rural communities.

Venture capital and public-private investments in AgTech can position rural Florida as a hub for agricultural innovation. Technological innovations into agricultural AI are already underway at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension. To fully leverage these investments into AgTech and scale statewide, internet access must be readily available in these rural communities.

Broadband internet access is another key area for growth.

Other successful infrastructure developments in Florida include Governor DeSantis’ $247M investment announced in July 2023 through the Capital Projects Fund Broadband Infrastructure Program. This program provides access to high-speed internet in rural counties, an essential resource for business, families, students, and community institutions such as hospitals and libraries.

At the 2024 Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Transportation, Growth and Infrastructure Solution Summit, Senator Cory Simon had a fireside chat with the chair of the Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) Executive Committee, Lucienne Pears, VP Economic Development from Babcock Ranch, and discussed the various ways that broadband internet access is ingrained in economic development in rural communities. This is poignant, as the most recent annual data finds 84.4% of rural households have a broadband internet subscription compared to 90.5% of families in non-rural counties, getting as low as less than three-fourths of families in counties like Madison, Dixie, Jefferson and Gadsden—and these rates are driven by both infrastructure access and affordability.

Recognizing how broadband access is tied to economic growth, the Florida 2030 Blueprint sets the goal that “100% of Florida residents have access to high-speed communications connectivity” and the TheFloridaScorecard.org tracks the percent of families at the county level that have the option of broadband internet available locally for their home.

Broadband access is an economic growth necessity, as it allows rural businesses to compete in digital markets and facilitates remote work. Broadband expansion will provide Florida businesses access to talent in rural areas and consequently offers Floridians living in rural areas more employment opportunities with businesses headquartered in metropolitan areas. This expanded access job opportunities to support the workforce can help close the gap in unemployment rates in rural Florida (3.5%) compared to non-rural Florida (3.1%)3, to ensure that Floridians with the right skills are not limited by their geographic location.

“For the FEDC, investing in rural infrastructure isn’t just about roads and broadband; it’s about unlocking the potential of Florida’s Heartland and ensuring that communities statewide—urban and rural—thrive together.”

– Lucienne Pears, VP Economic and Business Development at Babcock Ranch

Further, increased in-migration to Florida (as discussed in the Chamber’s 2024 Florida Migration Trends Report) in rural counties is a form of economic growth that will be possible if families can rely on high-speed internet regardless of where they live. Out-of-state remote workers will be attracted to relocate to Florida not just for its reputation as one of the best places to live, work, and raise a family in a thriving economy (currently the second fastest growing state economy since Q3 2020), but also because many rural counties have median home listing prices below the U.S. and Florida median price. As of December 2024, median housing listing prices are the lowest in the state in rural counties like Hamilton, Jackson and Washington Counties (ranging from $247.5k to $256k), far below the statewide median of $435k and national median of $400.5k. Remote workers migrating into rural Florida to take advantage of competitive housing prices would contribute to the local economy and also enjoy the benefits of living in “strong and proud communities”, language used by Senator Albritton to describe rural Florida. Florida puts a premium on clean water, air, and land, and this is no more evident than in rural Florida, making these areas an attractive place for families to call home.

Broadband access is also essential for small businesses to be nimble and competitive in rural areas to run their businesses, and limited access to reliable broadband contributes to why business formations in rural communities is significantly lower than non-rural communities. In the most recent annual data, rural counties only had 18,455 new business applications (2.8% of the Florida total), compared to the 646,112 in non-rural counties.

Strategies to support business owners in rural counties should include upskilling the talent already local to these areas with the skills to start their own businesses. Short-term Entrepreneurship college credit certificates are accessible to students living in rural counties serviced by eight Florida College System institutions (College of Central Florida, Florida SouthWestern State College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Gulf Coast State College, Indian River State College, Northwest Florida State College, and Tallassee State College).

Recent data shows that approximately 600 students enroll in one of these Entrepreneurship college programs in rural areas annually, and 87% of these program completers are either continuing their education or are employed in the year following completion. Colleges in rural counties already offering these programs should consider encouraging student enrollment to increase the talent pipeline of potential small business owners, while other FCS institutions in other rural counties should consider starting these programs.

Beyond Entrepreneurship training programs, the Florida College System institutions and public, district technical colleges provide workforce development opportunities to train talent and upskill employees located in rural areas, over a range of career clusters, enrolling over 230 thousand students annually in Career and Technical Education programs statewide, in areas including STEM, construction, manufacturing, transportation and logistics. These local postsecondary training institutions are well poised to be adaptive to local workforce needs and expand or offer new programs to meet the changing economic demands of Florida’s rural communities.

Achieving the Florida 2030 Blueprint goal of doubling rural counties’ share of GDP will require a strategic, collaborative effort from policymakers, businesses, and community leaders. Florida’s rural counties have demonstrated their capacity for economic growth, but fully realizing their potential requires targeted investments in economic development, infrastructure, workforce development, and digital connectivity. Expanding economic development programs, transportation networks, investing in AgTech and R&D, enhancing broadband access, and fostering entrepreneurship, rural communities will attract businesses, create jobs, and strengthen their role in Florida’s economy. If Florida continues to invest in these vital areas, Florida’s rural regions will not only contribute more to the economy but also offer greater opportunities for the families and businesses that call them home.