Buckingham, Florida


Buckingham is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,036 at the 2010 census, up from 3,742 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Historic Buckingham School is located there.

Geography

Buckingham is located in northeastern Lee County at . It is bordered to the southwest by Fort Myers, the county seat, and to the south and east by unincorporated Lehigh Acres.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Buckingham CDP has a total area of, of which are land and, or 1.36%, are water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,742 people, 1,283 households, and 1,008 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 197.3 people per square mile. There were 1,360 housing units at an average density of 71.7/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.20% White, 2.32% African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.51% Asian, 1.92% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.68% of the population.
There were 1,283 households, out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.3% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.4% were non-families. 15.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.9% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 30.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.6 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $51,068, and the median income for a family was $55,719. Males had a median income of $33,176 versus $25,676 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,103. About 6.4% of families and 16.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

John Ashley (outlaw)

, born and raised in the backwoods country along the Caloosahatchee River in Buckingham, was an outlaw, bank robber, bootlegger, and occasional pirate active in southern Florida during the 1910s and 1920s. Between 1915 and 1924, the self-styled "King of the Everglades" or "Swamp Bandit" operated from various hideouts in the Florida Everglades. His gang robbed nearly $1 million from at least 40 banks while at the same time hijacking numerous shipments of illegal whiskey being smuggled into the state from the Bahamas.