Fifteen percent of Englewood sits in flood Zone VE, the coastal high hazard area. That is the highest VE share we have measured anywhere in Florida, and VE is the most expensive zone on the map to build in.
Check any Englewood lot in secondsFlood zone, wetlands, soil, owner and zoning, in one search.See how it worksWe sampled 121 points on an even grid across Englewood on 15 September 2026 and ran each against the same public layers the app queries: FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer, the US Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory on the point and within 500 feet, and the USDA soil survey. Soil figures come from 91 of those points, because the survey does not cover open water. These are measured numbers, not estimates.
FEMA answered for 117 of the 121 points and the flood percentages are of those 117. Seven percent of them returned open water, which is Lemon Bay.
Most Florida markets we measure have no Zone VE at all. Cape Coral has four percent, Punta Gorda four, Hudson four. Englewood has fifteen.
VE is a special flood hazard area with wave action added. The base flood elevation is not just a still water depth, it accounts for breaking waves, which means a higher pad, stricter structural requirements for anything below the flood level, and the highest insurance premiums FEMA publishes.
A VE lot and an AE lot can sit two streets apart at the same asking price and be completely different purchases. In a market where fifteen percent of the grid is VE, checking which one you are looking at is not optional.
Forty percent Zone X, thirty nine percent Zone AE, fifteen percent Zone VE, seven percent open water. Fifty three percent inside a special flood hazard area.
The forty percent Zone X is real and it is worth hunting for. Englewood has more clean ground than South Gulf Cove, Gulf Cove or Punta Gorda, and it also has the worst downside of the four when you get it wrong.
Twenty eight percent of the sample had wetland mapped on the point itself, which is high, and eighty two percent had wetland on the lot or within 500 feet. Only Punta Gorda, at fifty percent on the lot, is worse in Charlotte County.
Seventy percent poorly drained, ten percent very poorly drained, fifteen percent somewhat poorly drained, with the median seasonal high water table twelve inches down. The soil service answered for ninety one of the points; the rest are water.
Which flood zone, and specifically whether it is VE, before anything else. Then wetland position, because twenty eight percent on the lot means the delineation question comes up often. Then utilities. Charlotte County publishes all of it and the app reads the layers directly.
Split four ways, which is unusual. Of 121 evenly sampled points on 15 September 2026, FEMA answered for 117: 40% Zone X, 39% Zone AE, 15% Zone VE and 7% open water. That puts 53% inside a special flood hazard area, and the VE share is the highest we have measured in Florida.
VE is the coastal high hazard area. It is a special flood hazard area with wave action added to the base flood elevation, and it carries the strictest construction requirements and the highest insurance premiums on the map. A VE lot is a fundamentally different purchase from an AE lot at the same price.
Often on the lot, not just near it. 28% of sampled points had wetland mapped on the point itself and 82% had wetland on the lot or within 500 feet.
No. 70% of soil samples came back poorly drained, 10% very poorly drained and 15% somewhat poorly drained, with a median seasonal high water table 12 inches down.
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