Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

is a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

located in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. There are 267

cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

, 123 towns, and 21 villages in the U.S. state of

, a total of 411

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. They are distributed across 67

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, in addition to 66 county governments. Jacksonville has the only

consolidated city–county In United States local government, a consolidated city-county ( see below for alternative terms) is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As ...

government in the state, so there is no Duval County government. However, smaller municipal governments exist within the consolidated municipality, e.g., Baldwin and the Jacksonville Beaches. All but two of Florida's

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

s are municipalities (the exceptions are Crawfordville, county seat of rural Wakulla County; and East Naples, county seat of Collier County). Municipalities in Florida may be called cities, towns, or villages, but there is no legal distinction between the different terms. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, more than 10 million Floridians, 55% of the state's total population of 18,801,310, lived in municipalities. The remainder lived in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

s. However, 92% of the population lives in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s, thus the actual number of residents living in truly

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s is small. There are ten counties in the state with just one municipality and ten counties with only two. In 1822, St. Augustine and

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

became the first municipalities to incorporate. The most recent incorporation was Indiantown in 2017. The largest municipality by population and land area is

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

with 949,611 residents and . The smallest by population is Marineland with 15 people, while the smallest by land area is Lazy Lake at . The formation and dissolution of municipalities is governed by Chapter 165 of the Florida Statutes. All Florida municipalities must be operated under a

municipal charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...

approved by a majority of the registered voters in the geographic area of the municipality, which must be confirmed by the state legislature through special legislation. The largest cities in Florida (population over 200,000) utilize the strong mayor–council form of government. The mayor typically appoints a chief administrative officer who performs the same function as a

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...

which is utilized by 70% of Florida's municipalities, whose mayors are primarily symbolic and ceremonial.

Incorporated cities, towns, and villages

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Florida League of Cities

Florida State Government Website

US Geological Survey: Geographic names in Florida

List of Florida Beaches
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Municipalities in Florida, List of Florida geography-related lists

Incorporated cities, towns, and villages

See also

References

Bibliography

External links