north and south of County Road 470 along the east side of Florida’s Turnpike for future development. The deal with the mega-retirement community has passed due diligence by the Leesburg City Commission. Age-restricted zoning ordinance changes have already been approved by the Leesburg Planning Commission (with the city commission giving final approval). The initial plans call for building approximately 4,500 homes and some commercial development. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (23.65%) is water. Leesburg is located 44.5 miles NNW of Orlando, 270 miles N of Miami, and 221 miles SW of Tallahassee, the state capital. Several major highways pass through Leesburg, including U.S. Highway 27, U.S. Highway 441 and S.R. 44. Florida's Turnpike passes just to the south and west of Leesburg. Leesburg was on the western leg of the Dixie Highway. Climate Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 15,956 people, 6,775 households, and 4,078 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,742 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 66.60% White, 29.12% African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.12% of the population. As of the 2020 Census, There were exactly 27,000 people in Leesburg. Of these people, 68.3% were Caucasian, 26.8% were African-American, 0.2% Native American, 1.9% Asian, less than 0.05% Pacific Islander, 2.2% that are two or more races, and 18.3% Hispanic. The median income per household is $37,092 as of 2019. There were 6,775 households, out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.6% were married couples living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.86. In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.5% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 26.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100