Santa Rosa County is a

county 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 ...

located in the northwestern portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. As of 2020, the population was 188,000. The

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 ...

is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities within Santa Rosa County are

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, Pace, and Gulf Breeze. Navarre is the most populated community with a population of approximately 45,000 residents. Santa Rosa County is included in the

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 ...

— Ferry Pass— Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes Escambia County.

History

The first European in Santa Rosa County Florida may have been Diego Maldonado, a member of Tristan de Luna's failed expedition. Natives dominated the area until the late 1700s. A Spanish mission serving

Apalachee The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,Bobby ...

s, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad y San Luís, may have been located in Floridatown from 1718 until 1740. Santa Rosa County was created in 1842, when it was divided from Escambia County. It was named after the barrier island along its southern coast, which in turn had been named for the Roman Catholic saint, Rosa de Viterbo. Santa Rosa County repealed its prohibition on alcohol in 2005. Santa Rosa County has seen unprecedented growth in population, specifically in the communities of

, Pace, and Gulf Breeze. The county is a quickly growing tourist destination because of its access to beaches and protected wilderness areas for kayaking, hiking, and camping.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (13.8%) is water.

National protected area

* Choctawhatchee National Forest (part)

Regions

Santa Rosa County can be divided into three distinct sections: South Santa Rosa, Central Santa Rosa, and North Santa Rosa. The sections are centered on the main east–west roads that pass through the county. Navarre Beach Florida sand

South Santa Rosa County comprises the area from Holley and

in the east to Gulf Breeze at the western end of the Fairpoint Peninsula, and along U.S. Highway 98. A section of Santa Rosa Island, containing the unincorporated community of Navarre Beach, is also part of South Santa Rosa County. Major bodies of water including Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola Bay and

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...

strongly influence the housing and life style of citizens in the southern part of the county. This fast-growing region serves primarily as "bedroom communities" for

to the west and

Hurlburt Field Hurlburt Field is a United States Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida, immediately west of the town of Mary Esther. It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation and is home to Headquarters Air Force S ...

, Fort Walton Beach, and

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...

to the east. Central Santa Rosa County is the area north of the bays and south of the extensive forests separating it from North Santa Rosa. The central section developed along the so-called Old Spanish Trail that ran from St. Augustine to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and further points west. Today,

U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. It generally travels near Int ...

closely parallels the old trail, and is the main highway that connects the region. Despite recent growth, the Central Region is best identified by its rural roots, and can be best characterized by traditional Southern culture. The Pace and Milton communities compose the Central Region, with both having populations roughly around 30,000. The county seat, Milton is located where the trail crossed the

Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of River#Classification, river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial ...

. To the west of Milton bordering the Escambia River, Pace has experienced exponential growth both residential and commercial.

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

also passes through this section of the county. The U.S. Navy presence is marked by Whiting Field and NOLF Spencer Field. Northern Santa Rosa County is forest and farming country. The only town in the north is Jay. Most development has been along State Road 4 which runs through the northern sections of Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties. A large oil and natural gas field around Jay produced a great deal of oil, and made many farmers millionaires in the 1970s and 1980s, but the field has been depleted and is producing little oil today. The citizens have, for the most part, returned to farming and forestry for their livelihoods. State Road 87 traverses the county from north to south, between U.S. Highway 98 and the border with

Escambia County, Alabama Escambia County is a County (United States), county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 36,757. Its county seat is Brewton, Alabama, Brewton. ...

near Brewton, where it connects with State Route 41. This road is a primary

emergency evacuation Emergency evacuation is an immediate egress or escape of people away from an area that contains an imminent threat, an ongoing threat or a hazard to lives or property. Examples range from the small-scale evacuation of a building due to a storm ...

route for the county during

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

Adjacent counties

- north * Okaloosa County, Florida - east *

Escambia County, Florida Escambia County is the westernmost and oldest County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 321,905. The county seat and largest city is Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

- west

Government

Board of County Commissioners

The Board of County Commissioners serves as the legislative and policy setting body of Santa Rosa County as established under Section 125 of the Florida Statutes. As such, the board enacts all legislation and authorizes programs and expenditures within the county. The board appoints a professionally trained county administrator who is responsible for policy and budget development and implementation. The board comprises five members, elected countywide. Members must reside within the particular districts for which they seek election. Each year the board organizes itself, selecting a chair and vice-chair from among its members to preside at commission meetings. The commission meets in regular session beginning at 9:00 a.m. the second and fourth Thursday of the month in the Commissioner's Board Room in the Administrative Center, 6495 Caroline Street, in Milton. Called meetings and workshops are scheduled periodically and are advertised and open to the public.

County officials

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 188,000 people, 65,697 households, and 47,876 families residing in the county. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 117,743 people, 43,793 households, and 33,326 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 49,119 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 90.72%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.25%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.01% Native American, 1.30% Asian, 0.08%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.67% from other races, and 1.98% from two or more races. 2.52% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 43,793 households, out of which 36.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.20% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.90% were non-families. 19.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.00. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.60% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 31.10% from 25 to 44, 24.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $41,881, and the median income for a family was $46,929. Males had a median income of $34,878 versus $22,304 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $20,089. About 7.90% of families and 9.80% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 12.60% of those under age 18 and 7.50% of those age 65 or over.

Libraries

The Santa Rosa County Library System has five branches located in the following communities:

, Gulf Breeze, Jay, Milton, and Pace.

Communities

The largest communities are Navarre and Pace.

Cities

* Gulf Breeze * Milton

Town

* Jay

Census-designated places

Allentown Allentown may refer to: Places * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a city in four counties in Georgia * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Tazewell County * Allentown, New Jersey, a boroug ...

* Avalon * Bagdad * Berrydale * Brownsdale * Chumuckla * Cobbtown * Dickerson City * Dixonville * East Milton * Fidelis * Floridatown * Garcon Point * Harold * Holley * Midway *

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

* Mulat * Munson *

* Navarre Beach * Oriole Beach * Pace * Pea Ridge * Pine Level * Springhill * Tiger Point * Wallace * Whitfield * Woodlawn Beach

Ghost Towns

* Coon Hill * Floridale

Politics

Santa Rosa County is a stronghold of the Republican Party. It has supported the Republican candidate in each presidential election since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, consistently by overwhelming margins.

Transportation

Airports

* Fort Walton Beach Airport * Peter Prince Field

Highways

* * * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

Newspapers

Print: *
South Santa Rosa News
' *
Gulf Breeze News
' *
Northwest Florida Daily News
' (Fort Walton Beach) *
Pensacola News Journal
' *
Milton Press Gazette
' aka the ''Santa Rosa Press Gazette''; available in full-text with images in th
Florida Digital Newspaper Library
*
Navarre Press
' Digital only: *
Navarre Newspaper
' *
EscaRosa Press
' *
Milton Chronicle
' - online newsletter, defunct since 2015

Government links/constitutional offices

Santa Rosa County Website

Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners

Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser

Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office

Santa Rosa County Tax Collector

Santa Rosa Economic Development Office

Santa Rosa County GIS Mapping System

Special districts

Santa Rosa County School District

Northwest Florida Water Management District

Judicial branch

Santa Rosa County Clerk of Courts

Public Defender, 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida
serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties
Office of the State Attorney, 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida

Circuit and County Court for the 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida

Tourism links

Santa Rosa County Chamber of Commerce

Community and civic organizations

Junior League of Pensacola

United Way of Santa Rosa County

Hospitals

Santa Rosa Medical Center
Hospital and Emergency Room located in Milton, Florida {{authority control Florida counties 1842 establishments in Florida Territory Populated places established in 1842 Pensacola metropolitan area North Florida