Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

is a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

located in the Southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. There are 267

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

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

, a total of 411

incorporated municipalities A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owned ...

. They are distributed across 67

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

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

consolidated city–county In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers o ...

government in the state, so there is no Duval County government. However, smaller municipal governments exist within the consolidated municipality, e.g.,

Baldwin Baldwin is a Germanic name, composed of the elements ''bald'' "bold" and ''win'' "friend". People * Baldwin (name) Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, Qu ...

and the

Jacksonville Beaches The Jacksonville Beaches, or Jax Beaches known locally as "The Beaches", are a group of towns and communities on the northern half of an unnamed barrier island on the US state of Florida's First Coast, all of which are excluded cities or parts of ...

. 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 civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

s are incorporated municipalities (the exceptions are Crawfordville, county seat of rural

Wakulla County Wakulla County is a county located in the Big Bend region in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,764. Its county seat is Crawfordville. Wakulla County is part of the Tallahas ...

; and East Naples, county seat of Collier 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, lived in incorporated municipalities. The remainder lived in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

s. 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 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 typically are des ...

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

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

and

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

became the first municipalities to incorporate. The most recent incorporation was

Westlake Westlake may refer to: Places Australia * Westlake, Canberra, a ghost town suburb of Canberra * Westlake, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Westlake, New Zealand, a suburb of Auckland ** Westlake Girls High School ** Westlake Boys ...

in 2016. The largest municipality by population and land area is

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

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 The ''Florida Statutes'' are the codified, statutory laws of Florida; it currently has 48 titles. A chapter in the Florida Statutes represents all of the relevant statutory law on a particular subject. The statutes are the selected reproduction of ...

. 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 Special legislation is a legal term of art used in the United States to refer to legislation that targets an individual or a small, identifiable group for treatment that does not apply to all the members of a given class. A statute is often called ...

. 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 A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance. Government and non-profit A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...

who performs the same function as a

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a " Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief ex ...

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 1 to 411 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.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Florida League of Cities

US Geological Survey: Geographic names in Florida
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Municipalities in Florida, List of Florida geography-related lists

Incorporated cities, towns, and villages

See also

References

Bibliography

External links