State bird
Northern mockingbird
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeTallahassee ·
U.S. States / South · Card 009
Florida
The Sunshine State
The Everglades are a network of wetlands, forests and coastal waters.
Florida and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Florida.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Tallahassee
- Postal abbreviation
- FL
- Population
- 23,462,518July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 170,312 km²65,758 square miles · land and water
- Statehood
- March 3, 1845State number 27
- Region
- South
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
Old Folks at Home
Sources: Designation & background
State pie
Key lime pie
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Alabama, Georgia.
02
Landscape & places
The Everglades are a network of wetlands, forests and coastal waters. Their ecological value comes from the movement of water through connected habitats, rather than from a single river channel or one type of swamp.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 138,887 km² of land and 31,424 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
A red diagonal cross on white, with the state seal at the center.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Everglades
How the landscape works
The Everglades are best understood through connections. Water moves among wetlands, forests, and coastal environments rather than staying within one narrow river channel. Changing that movement can affect habitats away from the point where the change occurs. A wetland is not unused land: its water, vegetation, and wildlife form an interacting system. Looking only for one large river misses how this landscape works.
History
Why the Seminole Wars were fought
Florida transferred from Spanish to U.S. control in 1821. American expansion placed growing pressure on Seminole communities and on Black people who had found refuge among them. Federal removal policy sought to move Native peoples from the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi.
Many Seminoles resisted leaving their homeland. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842 and became a long, costly campaign of fighting, capture and forced removal. Some Seminoles remained in Florida despite these efforts. Florida’s territorial history therefore includes a struggle over land and freedom, not only the transfer from Spain and admission as a state.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
The Seminole Wars were tied to U.S. efforts to remove Seminole people from Florida and to resistance to those efforts. “Removal” meant forcing people away from their homes, not simply changing a label on a map. Military campaigns did not eliminate Seminole communities from Florida. Their continuing presence challenges a story that treats Native history as ending with U.S. territorial expansion.
Key dates
-
Transfer from Spain to the United States
-
Florida Territory organized
-
Statehood · State number 27
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Seminole Tribe of Florida remains a living community and government. Its own history provides an important continuation of the story of resistance to removal, rather than ending that story with the Seminole Wars.
Continue with Seminole Tribe of Florida. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Florida and Alabama
| Measure | Florida | Alabama |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 23,462,518 | 5,193,088 |
| Land area (km²) | 138,887 | 131,171 |
| People per km² of land | 168.9 | 39.6 |
Florida has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Alabama.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, real estate and rental and leasing was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included professional and business services, educational services, health care, and social assistance, and government and government enterprises.
Total economic output was $1,834.6 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 20.4%
- Professional and business services: 13.7%
- Educational services, health care, and social assistance: 8.9%
- Government and government enterprises: 8.9%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people23.462025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 21,591,325 |
| 2021 | 21,836,698 |
| 2022 | 22,413,989 |
| 2023 | 22,929,248 |
| 2024 | 23,265,838 |
| 2025 | 23,462,518 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars1,393.842025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 851,956.4 |
| 2011 | 849,395.3 |
| 2012 | 857,861.3 |
| 2013 | 880,183.5 |
| 2014 | 905,648.5 |
| 2015 | 945,929.0 |
| 2016 | 978,989.7 |
| 2017 | 1,014,866.9 |
| 2018 | 1,050,433.8 |
| 2019 | 1,084,913.9 |
| 2020 | 1,072,481.6 |
| 2021 | 1,172,655.3 |
| 2022 | 1,245,927.6 |
| 2023 | 1,309,392.2 |
| 2024 | 1,352,275.1 |
| 2025 | 1,393,837.1 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Florida’s population increased by about 8.7% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 302024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 282020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Florida
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.