LaBelle's housing stock is small-town and modest, reflecting its role as a rural county seat rather than a coastal resort market. The city offers a mix of older single-family homes on tree-lined streets near downtown, mid-century houses, and newer construction at the edges, with manufactured homes and larger rural parcels common in the surrounding countryside. Lot sizes tend to be generous by Florida standards, and the Caloosahatchee River adds a limited supply of waterfront and canal-front properties. The market is owner-occupied and family-oriented, with housing costs well below the coastal communities to the west. Buyers are typically drawn by the agricultural lifestyle, river access, and space, rather than by urban amenities, and the surrounding Hendry County offers acreage and ranch properties for those seeking rural living.

LaBelle is organized around its oak-shaded main street and the Caloosahatchee River. The historic downtown, with its early 20th-century buildings and tree canopy, anchors civic and commercial life, while residential neighborhoods of older single-family homes spread outward on a modest grid. Riverfront and canal-front streets offer direct water access, and the city's edges transition quickly into citrus groves, cattle pasture, and rural acreage. Barron Park, along the river, serves as the community's gathering place for festivals and events. The surrounding Hendry County landscape — ranch land, farm fields, and the Caloosahatchee's cypress-lined banks — defines the setting, giving LaBelle the feel of a compact town set within a vast rural interior rather than an extension of southwest Florida's coastal sprawl.

LaBelle's lifestyle is agricultural, river-oriented, and unhurried. The Caloosahatchee River is woven into daily life, with boating, fishing, and riverside gatherings part of the local rhythm. The Swamp Cabbage Festival, held the last full weekend of February, is the community's signature celebration, honoring the sabal palm with a parade, rodeo, armadillo races, and festivities in Barron Park. Ranching and farming set the pace, and the town's identity is tied to the citrus, sugarcane, and cattle industries that surround it. Residents value the small-town scale, the tree-lined main street, and the close connection to Florida's interior landscapes, while looking to nearby Fort Myers and the Gulf Coast for larger shopping, health care, and employment. It is a deliberate, rural way of life rather than a commuter or resort setting.

LaBelle is served by the Hendry County School District, which operates public schools across the county and is headquartered in the area. The district serves a student population drawn from LaBelle, Clewiston, and the surrounding rural communities, reflecting the county's agricultural character and its two principal towns. Schools in LaBelle include elementary, middle, and high school campuses serving the city and nearby areas. Beyond K-12, higher education options are concentrated in the larger southwest Florida region, including Florida SouthWestern State College and Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, both within commuting distance. Families in LaBelle generally rely on the countywide district, with limited private school options in the immediate area.

LaBelle sits along State Road 80, the principal east-west route across Hendry County, which connects the city westward toward Fort Myers and the Gulf Coast and eastward toward Clewiston and the Lake Okeechobee region. State Road 29 runs north-south through the city, linking LaBelle to the Caloosahatchee's communities and the rural interior. Fort Myers, with its regional airport, health care, and employment, lies roughly 30 miles to the west via State Road 80, while Interstate 75 is reached through the Fort Myers area. Daily travel is car-dependent, and the city functions as the transportation and service hub for the surrounding farm and ranch country rather than a commuter node. The Caloosahatchee River also supports recreational and working boat traffic.

The Caloosahatchee River is LaBelle's recreational centerpiece, offering boating, fishing, and waterfront parks along its banks, with Barron Park hosting riverside events throughout the year. Lake Okeechobee, one of the country's largest lakes, lies a short drive east and is a major destination for bass fishing, boating, and birding along its rim. To the south, the Big Cypress Swamp and the northern Everglades provide wildlife viewing, hunting, and access to Florida's signature wetland landscapes, while Fisheating Creek and the region's creeks and sloughs add paddling opportunities. The Swamp Cabbage Festival brings rodeo and outdoor festivities to town each February. Recreation here is tied to the water and the land, with a distinctly rural, inland Florida character.