Why Visit Florida? Discover the Sunshine State's Appeal

Florida occupies 65,758 square miles on a peninsula extending southward from the continental United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. The state holds 1,350 miles of coastline, the second-longest in the nation after Alaska, creating access to marine environments along nearly every edge of inhabited territory. The Florida Keys alone extend 120 miles southwest from the mainland tip, connected by the Overseas Highway across 42 bridges, with the Seven Mile Bridge spanning open water between Knight's Key and Little Duck Key. The southern terminus at Key West sits 90 miles from Cuba across the Florida Straits, closer to Havana than to Miami by water.

The climate is classified as humid subtropical in the north and tropical in the south, with the frost line running approximately through Lake Okeechobee. Average annual temperatures in Miami range from 68°F in January to 83°F in August. Orlando records average lows of 50°F in January and average highs of 92°F in July. This thermal stability eliminates the need for winter heating in most coastal zones and permits year-round outdoor activity without seasonal closure of facilities. The state receives between 50 and 65 inches of rain annually, concentrated in the May-to-October wet season, while the November-to-April dry season coincides with peak visitor arrivals.

Florida contains three national parks and one national preserve protecting distinct ecosystems. Everglades National Park covers 1.5 million acres of subtropical wetland, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and an International Biosphere Reserve. The park protects the largest contiguous sawgrass marsh in North America, with water flowing southward at a rate of approximately 100 feet per day during wet season from Lake Okeechobee through the River of Grass to Florida Bay. Biscayne National Park encompasses 172,971 acres, 95 percent of which is underwater, protecting the northernmost keys of the Florida reef tract and mangrove coastline along the mainland. Dry Tortugas National Park sits 70 miles west of Key West, accessible only by boat or seaplane, containing Fort Jefferson, a massive coastal fortress constructed between 1846 and 1875 using over 16 million bricks. Big Cypress National Preserve adjoins the Everglades to the north and west, covering 729,000 acres of cypress swamp, wet prairie, and pineland.

The Florida reef tract extends 360 miles from the Dry Tortugas northeast along the Keys to the St. Lucie Inlet, forming the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States and the third-largest barrier reef system in the world. The reef structure supports over 1,400 species of marine plants and animals, including 500 species of fish and 40 species of stony coral. Water temperatures range from 68°F in winter to 85°F in summer, permitting snorkeling and diving without thermal protection for most of the year. Visibility averages 40 to 60 feet in offshore waters during calm conditions.

Florida's population reached 22.2 million as of the 2020 census, ranking third nationally after California and Texas. Population growth rate between 2010 and 2020 measured 14.6 percent, exceeding the national rate of 7.4 percent. The state adds approximately 900 new residents per day through a combination of domestic migration and international immigration. Miami-Dade County alone contains 2.7 million residents, with 70 percent reporting a language other than English spoken at home. Spanish is the primary language for 1.7 million residents statewide, reflecting sustained immigration from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Central America.

The Cuban American population numbers approximately 1.5 million, concentrated in Miami-Dade County, where they comprise 54 percent of the population. The Mariel boatlift of 1980 brought 125,000 Cubans to Florida over a six-month period, primarily through Key West. Subsequent waves arrived after 1994 under the wet-foot-dry-foot policy, which remained in effect until 2017. Haitian Americans number approximately 500,000 statewide, with the largest concentrations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Puerto Rican migration accelerated after Hurricane Maria in 2017, adding an estimated 300,000 residents to the existing Puerto Rican population of 1.1 million.

St. Augustine, founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. Castillo de San Marcos, constructed between 1672 and 1695 using coquina stone quarried from Anastasia Island, never fell to enemy attack during its operational history. The fort's walls measure 12 feet thick at the base and rise 33 feet above the moat. The city remained under Spanish control until 1763, transferred to Britain until 1783, returned to Spain until 1821, and then ceded to the United States under the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 for five million dollars in assumed claims.

Florida became a U.S. territory in 1822 and achieved statehood on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state. The state seceded on January 10, 1861, joining the Confederacy, and was readmitted to the Union on June 25, 1868. The Seminole Wars, fought intermittently between 1816 and 1858, resulted from U.S. attempts to remove the Seminole people to territory west of the Mississippi River. The Third Seminole War ended without a treaty, and approximately 200 to 300 Seminoles remained in the Everglades rather than accept relocation. The Seminole Tribe of Florida received federal recognition in 1957 and the Miccosukee Tribe in 1962.

The Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island adjacent to Cape Canaveral, has served as the primary launch site for American human spaceflight since 1968. Apollo 11 launched from Launch Complex 39A on July 16, 1969, carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the first crewed lunar landing. The Space Shuttle program conducted 135 missions from Kennedy Space Center between 1981 and 2011. The center now hosts commercial launch operations by SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance, with an average of 57 orbital launches per year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center combined as of 2022.

Florida's economy measures $1.2 trillion in gross state product as of 2022, ranking fourth nationally. Tourism contributes approximately $112 billion annually, with 137.6 million visitors recorded in 2022. Orange production totals approximately 40.6 million boxes per year, down from a peak of 244 million boxes in 1997-98 due to citrus greening disease caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The disease, transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, has reduced yields by approximately 70 percent since 2005. Grapefruit production measures 4.4 million boxes annually, concentrated in Indian River County.

The Everglades supports 350 species of birds, including the wood stork, the only stork species breeding in the United States. Roseate spoonbills nest in colonies within the mangrove estuaries of Florida Bay, feeding in shallow water by sweeping their bills side to side to filter crustaceans. The Florida panther population numbers approximately 200 individuals, restricted to habitats in South Florida below the Caloosahatchee River. The subspecies was listed as endangered in 1967, with population recovery dependent on preservation of forested corridors connecting Big Cypress, Everglades, and private ranchlands. West Indian manatees number approximately 8,800 individuals statewide, with aerial surveys conducted annually during winter months when animals congregate in warm-water refuges including natural springs and power plant discharge channels.

The American crocodile inhabits coastal mangroves and brackish waters of South Florida, the northern limit of the species' range. The population measures approximately 2,000 individuals, concentrated in the Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and the upper Florida Keys. American alligators, by contrast, inhabit freshwater environments statewide, with an estimated population exceeding 1.3 million. The two species overlap in brackish zones of the Everglades and can be distinguished by snout shape, with crocodiles exhibiting a narrower, V-shaped snout compared to the broader, U-shaped snout of alligators.

Key deer, a subspecies of white-tailed deer endemic to the Florida Keys, stand 24 to 28 inches at the shoulder and weigh 45 to 75 pounds at maturity. The population bottomed at 25 to 50 individuals in the 1950s before federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Current population estimates range from 800 to 1,000 individuals, primarily on Big Pine Key and No Name Key within the National Key Deer Refuge, established in 1957 and covering 9,200 acres.

The Florida scrub jay inhabits xeric oak scrub ecosystems restricted to well-drained sandy soils formed on ancient dune ridges. The species is nonmigratory and cooperative breeding, with offspring remaining with parents for one or more years to assist in raising subsequent broods. Habitat loss has reduced the population to approximately 4,000 individuals in fragmented patches across the central ridge, down from an estimated 10,000 in the 1990s. Gopher tortoises excavate burrows averaging 15 feet deep and 30 feet long in sandy uplands, providing refuge for over 350 commensal species including gopher frogs, eastern indigo snakes, and Florida mice.

Lake Okeechobee covers 730 square miles, making it the largest freshwater lake in Florida and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely within the United States after Lake Michigan. Average depth measures nine feet, with maximum depth of 12 feet. The Herbert Hoover Dike, constructed between 1932 and 1938 and rebuilt after Hurricane Okeechobee in 1928 killed an estimated 2,500 people, encircles the lake at a length of 143 miles and height of 34 feet above sea level. The lake serves as the liquid heart of the Everglades system, historically overflowing southward during summer wet season to feed the slow-moving sheet flow.

The St. Johns River flows 310 miles northward from its headwaters in Indian River County to its mouth at Jacksonville, one of the few rivers in North America flowing north due to the gradual elevation decline from south to north. The river drains a basin of 8,840 square miles and remains tidal for approximately 80 miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. Manatees migrate up the river to Blue Spring State Park during winter months, with daily counts sometimes exceeding 500 individuals seeking the constant 72°F spring water.

Henry Flagler extended the Florida East Coast Railway from Jacksonville to Key West between 1885 and 1912, constructing the Overseas Railroad across the Keys using a series of bridges and viaducts. The railway reached Key West on January 22, 1912, creating the first direct land connection to the island. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph, destroyed portions of the railway between Islamorada and Marathon, killing an estimated 423 people. The rail line never reopened, but the remaining infrastructure formed the foundation for the Overseas Highway, completed in 1938.

Julia Tuttle, a citrus grower and landowner, persuaded Flagler to extend his railway to Miami in 1896 by sending him orange blossoms after a freeze devastated citrus crops elsewhere in the state. Miami incorporated on July 28, 1896, with a population of 300. The city grew to 5,471 by 1910 and 110,637 by 1930 during the Florida Land Boom. The boom collapsed in 1926 following the Miami Hurricane, which killed 372 people and caused $100 million in damages.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas published "The Everglades: River of Grass" in 1947, reframing public perception of the wetlands from worthless swamp to ecological treasure. Her advocacy contributed to the establishment of Everglades National Park later that year. She founded Friends of the Everglades in 1969 at age 79 and continued environmental activism until her death in 1998 at age 108.

The Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, held annually since 1904, commemorates the fictional pirate José Gaspar through a staged invasion of the city by krewe members aboard a full-scale pirate ship. The parade draws approximately 300,000 spectators along a 4.5-mile route through downtown Tampa. Calle Ocho Festival, held in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, attracts over one million attendees across 23 blocks of Southwest Eighth Street, featuring live music stages, food vendors, and cultural demonstrations celebrating Cuban and Latin American heritage.

Key lime pie, designated the official state pie in 2006, originated in the Florida Keys using the small, yellow Key lime variety and sweetened condensed milk, which required no refrigeration in the pre-electricity era. The filling combines Key lime juice, egg yolks, and condensed milk in a graham cracker or pastry crust, traditionally topped with meringue. The Cuban sandwich layers roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard on Cuban bread pressed flat and heated. Tampa and Miami claim competing versions, with Tampa adding Genoa salami. Stone crab claws are harvested from October 15 to May 15 annually, with one claw removed and the crab returned to the water to regenerate the appendage, a process requiring approximately 18 months.