St. Leo or Saint Leo
History
thumb|left|upright|Saint Leo AbbeyIn 1889, the Benedictines established the monastery of St. Leo and St. Leo College on Judge Edmund F. Dunne's former homestead and farm land east of San Antonio, Florida on the shores of Lake Jovita, later incorporating the area as part of a new town called St. Leo.
Dunne was a legal counsel involved in the Disston Land Purchase of 1881, and as his commission, received 100,000 choice acres (400 km2) of land out of the 4,000,000 acre (16,000 km) purchase. The following year on February 15, while surveying the Disston Purchase with his cousin, Captain Hugh Dunne, Dunne selected the area around Lake Jovita, which he named after St. Jovita, as his commission and began settling it.
He first established the Catholic colony of San Antonio in 1882, and later added the surrounding villages of Saint Joseph, Saint Thomas, Villa Maria, Carmel, and San Felipe. Only the rural community of Saint Joseph survives today.
The area of what is now the Town of St. Leo, although originally platted as another village by Dunne, did not receive its name until after the arrival of the Benedictine monks. The present name is derived from Pope Leo IX.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (13.90%) is water.
St. Leo contains rolling hills with elevations from 100 ft to 180 ft.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, the Town of St. Leo has a humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa).
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
{| class="wikitable"
|+St. Leo racial composition<br> (Hispanics excluded from racial categories)<br> (NH = Non-Hispanic)<br>
!Race
!Pop 2010
!Pop 2020
!% 2010
!% 2020
|-
|White (NH)
|919
|910
|68.58%
|38.53%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|188
|938
|14.03%
|39.71%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|2
|2
|0.15%
|0.08%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|24
|70
|1.79%
|2.96%
|-
|Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian (NH)
|0
|0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|-
|Some other race (NH)
|4
|13
|0.30%
|0.55%
|-
|Two or more races/Multiracial (NH)
|39
|31
|2.91%
|1.31%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|164
|398
|12.24%
|16.85%
|-
|Total
|1,340
|2,362
|
|
|-
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, St. Leo had a population of 2,362. The median age was 20.3 years. 4.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 1.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 74.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 68.6 males age 18 and over.
There were 48 households in St. Leo, of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 56.3% were married-couple households, 14.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 10.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
2000 census
As of the census