FL · Sunshine State · South · admitted 1845 (#27)
Florida map
Florida highlighted on the US map, with its capital Tallahassee and largest city Jacksonville. The peninsula has the longest coastline in the contiguous US and the third-largest population of any state.
- Capital
- Tallahassee
- Largest city
- Jacksonville
- Population (2020)
- 21,538,187
- Area
- 65,758 sq mi
- Counties
- 67
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Region
- South · South Atlantic
- Statehood
- March 3, 1845
Where Florida is
Florida is the southeastern corner of the US, a peninsula about 450 miles long reaching toward Cuba, plus a Panhandle stretching 360 miles west along the Gulf of Mexico. Georgia and Alabama lie to the north; every other side is water — the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Straits of Florida to the south, and the Gulf to the west. The peninsula is rarely more than 150 miles wide. Jacksonville is in the northeast corner, Tallahassee in the Panhandle, Miami at the southern tip, and the Florida Keys curve 120 miles south-west from the mainland to Key West.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | Northeast (First Coast) | 949,611 |
| Miami | South Florida | 442,241 |
| Tampa | Tampa Bay (Gulf coast) | 384,959 |
| Orlando | Central Florida | 307,573 |
| St. Petersburg | Tampa Bay (Gulf coast) | 258,308 |
| Hialeah | South Florida | 223,109 |
| Tallahassee (capital) | Panhandle | 196,169 |
| Fort Lauderdale | South Florida | 182,760 |
Geography
- Britton Hill — 345 feet, in the Panhandle near the Alabama line: the lowest state high point in the US.
- Coastline — about 1,350 miles of general coastline on the Atlantic and Gulf, more than any state except Alaska. See US coastlines and the Gulf of Mexico map.
- Lake Okeechobee — about 730 square miles, the largest lake in the Southeast, feeding the Everglades to its south. See US lakes.
- Everglades — a 50-mile-wide sheet of slow-moving water across the southern peninsula, protected in Everglades National Park.
- St. Johns River — 310 miles, flowing north to the Atlantic at Jacksonville; the Suwannee and Apalachicola are the main Panhandle rivers.
- Springs and karst — the limestone peninsula holds more than 700 freshwater springs, and sinkholes are common in the centre of the state.
- Time zones — the peninsula and eastern Panhandle are on Eastern time; the Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River (Pensacola, Panama City) is on Central time.
Borders
Florida's short land border has both natural and surveyed parts. From the Atlantic, the St. Marys River separates Florida from Georgia for about 130 miles to its source in the Okefenokee Swamp; from there a surveyed line runs west to the Chattahoochee River at the Georgia–Alabama corner. The Alabama border follows the 31st parallel west to the Perdido River, which then flows south to the Gulf near Pensacola. Everything else is coast: the peninsula alone has both Atlantic and Gulf shorelines, and the Keys mark the southern limit of the state.
Regions of Florida
The Panhandle (Pensacola, Tallahassee, the Emerald Coast), North Florida (Jacksonville and the First Coast, Gainesville), Central Florida (Orlando, the Space Coast at Cape Canaveral), Tampa Bay (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater), Southwest Florida (Fort Myers, Naples), the Treasure Coast, South Florida or the Gold Coast (Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami), the Everglades and the Keys.
Related maps
- Florida county map — all 67 counties with seats.
- Blank Florida map — outline for printing.
- Printable Florida map.
- Tallahassee — why the capital is in the Panhandle, far from Miami.
- Neighbors: Georgia, Alabama.
- Region: South · South Atlantic · Southeast · Gulf Coast.
- Time zones: Eastern and Central (western Panhandle).
- Geography: Gulf of Mexico, Coastlines, National parks.