July 31, 2026 — Southwest Florida new business activity

Southwest Florida recorded 884 new business filings for the week of July 10 to 16, up 21.3% from the week before but 6.8% below the same week last year.

Two counties hold most of the activity. Lee recorded 481 new filings and Collier 232. Charlotte came in at 81, Highlands at 43, Hendry at 21, DeSoto at 15, Hardee at 10, and Glades at 1. Nothing fell. All 8 counties matched or beat their prior week, so the rise was broad rather than concentrated in one place.

The longer direction is still down. The region's 13 week average now sits at 991.5, and this week came in under it. The 13 week running total is 12,889, against 13,088 for the window before it. The week just before this one was the weakest in that stretch at 729, so part of the gain is a bounce off a low base. One up week does not turn a three month slide.

Administrative and support services made the biggest move of any sector, going from 47 to 88. Professional services added 25 to reach 107. Health care rose from 30 to 49, retail from 42 to 64, and hospitality and tourism from 40 to 57. Construction and trades barely budged, up 3 to 94. Property holding and asset protection is still the largest single group at 121, but it slipped 4 from the week before.

Most of the increase came from new LLCs, which rose from 518 to 649 and make up 73.4% of the week. No single filing agent accounted for much of the total. The busiest one handled 19. The largest single sector, property holding and asset protection, came to just 13.7% of the week, so no one kind of business dominated either. This reads like a lot of separate owners starting out at once.

A steady slowdown over the past 13 weeks.

The bold line is the 13-week average. Read it for the longer trend. The thin line is each week's count, which swings week to week.

• 2025-26
• 2024-25
• 2023-24
• 2022-23
• 2021-22

New business formation usually runs highest around Jan and is quietest around Dec, holding near 4,000 a month across the years.

Each line is one year, ending at the current month on the right, so you can read the past year left to right. New Year's Day is left out because the state office is closed, so almost no businesses register that day.

Administrative & Support Services grew the most this week, 41 more (up 87.2%). Personal & Other Services dropped the most, 12 fewer (down 17.1%). Several smaller sectors also grew.

Lee led the region this week with 481 new filings. Gains were broad, with 6 other counties also up from the week before.

• Cape Coral's City Council took up two ordinances on July 22, 2026 that would create new community development districts inside the city. One would set up the Star Farms at Cape Coral Community Development District over roughly 1,279.549 acres, brought forward by Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group, Inc. The other would set up the 7 Islands Community Development District over roughly 47.18 acres, brought forward by Gulf Gateway Resort and Marina, LLC. A district covering about 1,279.549 acres is years of site work, roads, drainage, utilities, and home building, and the 47.18 acre one adds a resort and marina project on top of it. That is steady work for excavation and paving crews, concrete and masonry, electricians, plumbers, roofers, and landscapers, plus the surveyors and engineers who sign off at each stage. Cape Coral logged 155 new filings this week and construction and trades came to 94 across the region, so contractors and suppliers chasing this work now have a bigger pool of new firms to sell to. City of Cape Coral City Council Regular Meeting Agenda, 2026-07-22
• Charlotte County commissioners worked through a heavy land use agenda on July 28, 2026. Petition PD-25-13 would rezone about 277.55 acres at Burnt Store Road and Zemel Road near Punta Gorda to allow up to 999 homes and up to 195,000 square feet of commercial space, with Burnt Store Road RET-LLC as the applicant. The same agenda carried final site plan approval for Turnleaf Phase 2A, 204 single family lots on about 117.27 acres, and a site plan change for Cassia Bay, 100 single family lots on about 68.43 acres. Up to 999 homes, plus 204 lots at Turnleaf Phase 2A and 100 at Cassia Bay, is a long build queue for framers, roofers, concrete crews, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC firms. The 195,000 square feet of commercial space brings shop fit out work, signage, and parking and site lighting. Once people move in, the same rooftops feed lawn care, pest control, cleaning, insurance agents, and the retail and personal services families use. Charlotte County filings rose to 81 this week and Port Charlotte to 50, which lines up with the volume of land work moving through this agenda. Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners Regular and Land Use Meeting Agenda, 2026-07-28
• The Collier County Planning Commission met on July 16, 2026, inside the week this report covers. Its advertised public hearing item, PL20260003715, would amend the county's Land Development Code to drop the required separation distance between facilities with fuel pumps. The commission also had a discussion of data centers listed under new business. Removing the distance rule between fuel pump sites makes it easier to open a gas station or a convenience store closer to an existing one, so it widens where fuel and convenience retail can go in the county. That is direct work for site contractors, tank and canopy installers, electricians, and the permit expediters and engineers who prepare the applications. Collier recorded 232 new filings this week and retail across the region went from 42 to 64, so the rule change lands in a week when retail formation is already rising. Collier County Planning Commission Meeting Agenda, 2026-07-16
• Highlands County commissioners held two zoning hearings on July 21, 2026. One would rezone about 9.11 acres from an agricultural district to a multiple family dwelling district that also allows motels and hotels. The other would move twelve parcels totaling about 6.3 acres from single family to two family dwelling zoning. The same meeting approved a $10,930 engineering work order with Kimley Horn for the Sebring Fuel Station project. Opening 9.11 acres to apartments plus motel and hotel use, and turning twelve single family parcels into two family lots, points at more rooftops and more rooms to build and then maintain. That means work for small builders, roofers, plumbers, and electricians, and later for cleaning crews, linen and laundry services, landscapers, and property managers. Highlands filings rose 59.3% to 43 and Sebring reached 24, and hospitality and tourism formation across the region went from 40 to 57, so this zoning work sits alongside the fastest county gain in the region. Highlands County Board of County Commissioners Regular Meeting Agenda, 2026-07-21
• The DeSoto County Board of County Commissioners listed a temporary moratorium on data centers as regular business at its June 23, 2026 meeting. The same meeting held public hearings on an ordinance creating the Oak Stone Community Development District and one dissolving the earlier Oak Stone East district, and took up a revised building department fee schedule. Creating a community development district is the step that funds roads, water, and drainage for a new community, so it puts civil contractors, utility crews, and engineering firms in line for work in a county that logged 15 new filings this week. The data center pause and the new building fee schedule are both worth reading closely if you build or permit here, because they change what you can put up and what it costs to file. Collier's planning commission had data centers on its agenda in the same period, so two counties in this region are working on the same question at once. DeSoto County Board of County Commissioners Meeting Agenda, 2026-06-23
• Alico, Inc. reported on May 11, 2026 that it closed a $26.9 million land sale during its second quarter, bringing its land sales to $34.6 million for the year to date. The company describes itself as a diversified land company holding roughly 46,000 acres across 7 Florida counties, and said it secured local entitlement approvals in April 2026 for its Corkscrew Grove Villages in Collier County. Large blocks of farmland changing hands and clearing local entitlement steps is how the next round of subdivisions and commercial sites gets started here. Land brokers, title and closing agents, surveyors, civil engineers, and land clearing and earthmoving contractors are the first ones paid on deals like these, followed by the builders. Real estate formation in the region reached 48 this week and property holding and asset protection came to 121, the largest single group, which fits a market where land is actively trading. Alico, Inc. Investor Relations Press Release, 2026-05-11
• The Cape Coral Planning and Zoning Commission agenda for July 1, 2026 carried Ordinance 20-26, which would change the city's Land Development Code to do away with the Hearing Examiner and put a Special Magistrate in charge of quasi-judicial development hearings. The same agenda included Ordinance 39-26, a future land use map change from single family to multi family for a property on NE 13th Avenue. Who hears a development case decides how long an approval takes, so this change matters to every builder, developer, and land use attorney working in Cape Coral. Firms that handle permitting, expediting, engineering, and zoning representation should expect the process to be run differently going forward. Lee County recorded 481 new filings this week, the most of any county in the region, so a lot of new operators will meet this process for the first time. City of Cape Coral Planning and Zoning Commission Agenda, 2026-07-01

If you sell to new businesses in Southwest Florida, the plain read is a strong week inside a slower quarter. The 884 filings beat the week before by 21.3%, but they came in under the 13 week average of 991.5 and 6.8% below the same week a year ago, so plan for a normal summer rather than a boom. Where to spend your time is clearer than the trend is. Lee and Collier produced 481 and 232 of the week's filings, so that is where the volume sits. The fastest growing kinds of buyer are administrative and support services, up from 47 to 88, and professional services at 107, and both of those buy insurance, bookkeeping, payroll, and office and vehicle setup in their first few months. Health care at 49, retail at 64, and hospitality and tourism at 57 all jumped in the same week. The public records back that up. Cape Coral is creating districts over about 1,279.549 acres and 47.18 acres. Charlotte County is weighing up to 999 homes and 195,000 square feet of commercial space near Punta Gorda. Highlands County is rezoning land for apartments and hotel use. Construction and trades filings rose only 3 to 94 against all of that approved work, so established contractors and their suppliers face less new competition for it than the pipeline would suggest.

These counts come from Florida's official business registration records for the 8 counties in Southwest Florida: Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands and Lee. We count active new registrations recorded for the week of July 10 to 16, 2026, and compare them to the week before, to the same week a year earlier, and to the average of the last 13 weeks. We wait about two weeks after a week ends before reporting it, because the state keeps posting that week's filings for roughly that long. That wait is why these counts are complete and final rather than a partial early look. Business categories are grouped into plain language sectors, and county and city figures cover only the places inside this region. The local developments below are drawn from the governments' and companies' own published records, each linked so you can read the original.

Frequently asked questions

Filings rose 21.3% this week. Is Southwest Florida's business formation turning back up?

Not yet. The 884 filings beat the prior week's 729, but that prior week was the weakest of the last 13. This week still came in below the 13 week average of 991.5 and 6.8% under the same week last year, and the 13 week total slipped to 12,889 from 13,088. One week up is a rebound, not a change in direction.

Which counties and cities should I work first?

Lee and Collier, by a wide margin. Lee produced 481 of the week's filings and Collier 232. Inside them, Naples had 219, Fort Myers 159, and Cape Coral 155. Estero at 28 and North Fort Myers at 25 were the fastest risers among the smaller places, so they are worth a look if the big three are crowded.

Which new businesses are the best prospects right now?

Administrative and support services nearly doubled, from 47 to 88, and professional services reached 107. Those two buy insurance, bookkeeping, payroll, software, and vehicle and office setup early. Health care at 49, retail at 64, and hospitality and tourism at 57 all rose sharply too, and each of those needs space built out, staffed, and supplied.

Why does this report cover a week from earlier this month?

Florida keeps recording a week's business filings for about two weeks after that week ends. We wait for that to finish before we publish, so the counts you see are complete rather than a partial early figure that changes later.