At the time of the 2010 census, Estero was an unincorporated community and census-designated place,[6] but incorporated as a village on the last calendar date of 2014.

In 2019, Estero was ranked #8 by USA Today for cities where the most people own their homes for having a homeownership rate of 85.5%.

[13] Mound Key, located in Estero Bay, is believed to have been the ceremonial center of the Calusa Indians when they were encountered by the Spanish in the early 1500s.

[14] German homesteader Gustave Damkohler began planting mulberry trees in 1882 along the Estero River, followed by others who established fish camps and the region's first citrus groves.

This theory, which he called Koreshan Unity, drew followers to occupy and develop Damkohler's original 320-acre (1.3 km2) tract.

[18] The 1908 death of Teed (who claimed to be immortal) was a critical blow to the group's faith, whose membership dwindled into the 1960s.

Access to Estero was greatly improved in the 1920s when Tamiami Trail, a highway linking Tampa and Miami, and two railroads were built through the area.

Today, the former Atlantic Coast Line tracks are still in place east of US 41 and have been owned by Seminole Gulf Railway since 1987.

[20] The former Seaboard tracks were removed in the 1940s and its former route west of US 41 is now an FPL power line corridor.

[21] It is bordered to the south by the city of Bonita Springs and to the north by unincorporated San Carlos Park and Three Oaks.

[30] The significant and sustained increase in median income in Estero can be attributed to a long-term influx of affluent households through inbound migration.

Hertz built a $75 million building at the southeast corner of US-41 and Williams Road on a previously vacant lot and cleared parcel that already contained a retention pond.

[31] The land is immediately south of Corkscrew Village and about a mile north of Coconut Point Mall.

Additionally, Gulf Coast Town Center is located just 3 miles from the northern border of Estero.