Shanna Hendricks, 38, just moved into the Nest Apartments in Bradenton.
Dozens of black trash bags still cover her tile floor, full of items to unpack. Except for her spices.
Rummaging through a bag with her pots and pans, she said those were the first of her belongings to find a place in her new home.
"I've got like two cabinets of seasoning already. So, I throw down, like, I make all kinds of food because my mom is Irish, German and Italian, and my dad's from St. Thomas," Hendricks said.
She's a single mom renting the two-bedroom apartment with her son and dog.
The 182-unit complex is affordable workforce housing that's about 10 minutes from downtown Bradenton, where she works as a behavioral technician for nonprofit hospital Centerstone.
Hendricks said the non-government-subsidized housing, built by developer One Stop Housing, is the only reason she can afford to live where she works.
"If it wasn't for a place like this, I wouldn't be able to survive out here in Manatee County," she said. "There's so many people that I know that have moved out [of here] and have not come back."
Hendricks chalks that trend up to the county's rapid growth.
The county's changing makeup
Since 2020, nearly 60,000 people have moved to Manatee County, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pioneer Institute.
That's roughly 32 new neighbors a day for five years.
During that period, adults 75 and older moving to the area made up about a third of the county's population growth, outpacing growth among new residents ages 20 to 34, at 23%, according to the analysis.
Manatee County gained more people from other Florida counties than from other states. It saw the largest net gain in residents from Sarasota County and the largest net loss to Hillsborough County.
The analysis also found a shift in where the money is moving.
On average, a new Manatee County resident between 2019 and 2013 earned nearly $118,000, while an outgoing resident earned just under $86,000, according to an analysis of IRS tax return data by the Pioneer Institute.
Looking at the growth of all Manatee County households by income level, every group increased except those earning between $25,000 and $50,000, which decreased by over 1,700 households.
In 2024, the largest share of the growth by income level in Manatee County, at 19%, was among residents earning between $100,000 and $150,000.
The seeds of tourism
This movement reflects the latest chapter of growth and development in Manatee County.
It's one defined by a seasonal influx of snowbirds to the beaches, master-planned communities edging out cattle land and Tropicana's waning citrus empire.
There are also throughlines to what has historically drawn people to the region, like the water.
“At that point ... it was estimated to be about a two-week walk to Tampa. So the river and the waterways are going to be your easiest way to get around. So anywhere that's along the waterways is going to promote population growth," said Krystin Miner, the deputy director of historical resources for the Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court.
Predating the incorporation of Manatee County, the Braden brothers — for whom Bradenton is eventually named — built a sugar mill plantation and a dock along the river in the 1840s.
Others, like plantation owner Robert Gamble, followed — and so did an emerging economy of sugar, salt, citrus and fish. This led to a need for shipping by steamboat and train, which supported the county's early tourism.
"We have several steam companies that develop," Miner said. "They would actually do little pleasure cruises, day cruises, where they would start in places like Tampa, and work their way down, sometimes stopping at Terra Ceia Island, Palmetto, Manatee, possibly Sarasota."
These seeds of growth can be traced through the late 1900s, when tourism and population surged from around 34,000 in 1950 to 211,000 by 1990.
There was evidence of this in the mobile home parks and RV resorts sprouting along U.S. 41; master-planned communities replacing cattle land in the eastern unincorporated part of the county; and the barrier islands, from Anna Maria to Longboat, transforming into prime second-home destinations for snowbirds and retirees alike.
The modern challenges of growth
That's what brought Brody Brilling to Manatee County, which is now home to nearly half a million people.
"I have been coming to Bradenton and Anna Maria Island for probably eight or nine years, and I just decided to move here last year," she said.
Brilling struggles to talk over the sound of construction near her apartment in downtown Bradenton to explain that the area didn't stop developing once she arrived.
"I've had to be cautious with my conversation ... people are like, 'Oh, how long have you been here?' " she said. "I have close friends who live here that are that are just annoyed with the fact that there are so many people moving here, and it's creating this traffic issue, and it's creating you know the increase in prices."
Brilling is the first to admit her contribution to the region's growth and the consequences that come with it, but she's not immune to them either.
Despite moving to retire here, she said she'll be priced out of her Bradenton apartment in the coming years, too.
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That's the primary tension of a growing place, Manatee County commissioner George Kruse said.
"That's the balancing act. People want to close the door. People want to be the last person in ... but people are going to keep coming here," he said.
Effectively managing that growth requires planning and developing a community "that not only is beneficial to the new people coming in, but to the people who already live here."
It's something that's become harder for local governments in recent years, Kruse said, with the passage of the Live Local Act and rollback of home rule, both policies that incentivize housing development and limit the power counties once had to plan their growth.
These days, Kruse said it feels like they're forced to react to it.
"You keep promising people. Don't worry, I'm going to widen your road next. Just hold tight. I'm going to widen your road, and then all of a sudden a bunch of homes pop up, and you're like, wait, I have to at least build the road to get there."
While public infrastructure keeping pace with growth is key, Kruse said roads alone won't keep the county's teachers, police officers and hospital workers living in town.
