Much of the area is used for hunting, fishing, and other recreation activities. About 13 percent is cropland. Winter vegetables are the main crop, but some citrus fruits, avocado, and papaya are grown on better drained sites. Sugarcane is an important crop on the organic soil south of Lake Okeechobee. The acreage of improved pasture, about 6 percent, is increasing.
Beef cattle are the principal livestock, and dairying is an important enterprise locally.
Urbanization is extensive along the eastern coast. The level, low coastal plain contains large areas of swamps and marshes. Poorly defined broad streams, canals, and ditches drain the area to the ocean. Most of the area is flat, but in the interior, hummocks rise a meter or two above the general level. Low beach ridges and dunes, mainly in the east, rise a few meters above the adjoining swamps and marshes.