Florida is a state located in the Southern United States. There are 282 cities, 109 towns, and 19 villages in the U.S. state of Florida, a total of 410 incorporated municipalities. They are distributed across 67 counties, in addition to 66 county governments. Jacksonville has the only consolidated cityâ€"county government in the state, so there is no Duval County government. However, smaller municipal governments exist within the consolidated municipality, i.e., Baldwin and the Jacksonville Beaches. All but one of Florida's county seats are incorporated municipalities. The exception is Crawfordville, county seat of rural Wakulla County. Incorporated 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, resided in incorporated municipalities. The remainder resided in unincorporated areas. However, 94% of the population lives in metropolitan areas. Of the remaining 6%, many live in smaller cities and towns, thus the actual number of residents living in truly rural areas is small. There are ten counties in the state with just one incorporated municipality and ten counties with only two.
In 1822, St. Augustine and Pensacola became the first municipalities to incorporate. The most recent incorporations were in 2006: Loxahatchee Groves and Grant-Valkaria. The largest municipality by population and land area is Jacksonville with 842,583 residents and 874.6 square miles (2,265Â km2). The smallest by population is Lake Buena Vista with 10 people, while the smallest by land area is Lazy Lake at 0.022 square miles (0.057Â km2) square miles.
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 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 mayorâ€"council form of government. The mayor typically appoints a chief administrative officer who performs the same function as a city manager which is utilized by 70% of Florida's municipalities, whose mayors are primarily symbolic and ceremonial.
Incorporated cities, towns, and villages
Note: The table of contents only applies when the list is sorted by place name.
- "Rank" refers to the relative position of a municipality on a list ranked from 1â€"410 by population.
- "Year" refers to the first time a place name was incorporated. If a community was incorporated as a Town, then subsequently incorporated as a City, the earliest date is provided.
- Left mouse click on the up/down arrows to sort the list by that column.
See also
- List of counties in Florida
- List of places in Florida
- List of former municipalities in Florida
References
Bibliography
- Florida House of Representatives Local Government & Veterans Affairs Committee (2003), Local Government Formation Manual (PDF), TallahasseeÂ
- Robert E. Lang (2003), Beyond Edge City: Office Sprawl in South Florida (PDF), Washington, DC: Brookings InstitutionÂ
External links
- Florida League of Cities
- US Geological Survey: Geographic names in Florida
- "Municipal & Home Rule Resources". Tallahassee: Florida League of Cities.Â
