Facts about Florida
Facts about Florida

22 Fabulous Florida Facts

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer
Published August 8, 2023
  • Florida is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.[5]
  • Florida is the second most popular state for foreign tourists in the United States; New York is number one.[7]
  • The first European settlement in the United States was in St. Augustine, Florida.[5]
  • The southernmost point in the United States is Key West, Florida.[5]
  • Florida has the longest continuous coastline in the United States.[5]
    • Florida Golf Facts
    There are over 1,000 golf courses in Florida
  • Florida has the most golf courses in the United States.[5]
  • Famous inventions from Florida include Gatorade, air conditioning, sunscreen, and key lime pie.[13]
  • Florida produces the most grapefruit in the United States.[9]
  • Florida means "land of flowers" in Spanish.[5]
  • The smallest police station in the world is in Carabelle, Florida.[14]
  • Florida is usually not considered part of the Deep South because it is a peninsula into the Caribbean.[5]
  • Over 2/3 of Florida's population lives in a coastal area.[5]
  • Florida is the flattest state in America. The highest point in Florida is only 345 feet above sea level.[10]
  • The only place where it is legal to swim with wild manatees is in Citrus County, Florida. This area is considered the largest natural winter refuge for manatees in the world.[8]
    • Manatee Florida Fact
    The manatees' closest relative is the elephant
  • Florida's official nickname is the "Sunshine State." It's also known as the Peninsula State, the Everglades State, the Orange State, the Flower State, the Gulf State, and the Alligator State.[1]
  • Florida park officials shot a white rhino in Florida was shot dead less than a day after it arrived. Park officials said after the rhino breached a fence, they shot it repeatedly for 1/3 of a mile before it finally died.[11]
  • Florida is the only state besides Hawaii that has a tropical climate. It is the only continental state that has a coral reef.[5]
  • Florida consistently ranks as the lightning capital of the United States, averaging 223 lightning events per square mile per year.[4]
  • Conditions at Venice, Florida, beaches are ideal for fossilizing shark teeth, making the area the "Shark Tooth Capital of the World."[3]
  • NASA chose Florida as home for its space program because Florida had lots of relatively undeveloped land, and it is one of the most southern and eastern parts of the United States.[6]
  • In Florida, every public building has outward-opening doors because of strong winds and hurricanes in the state.[2]
    • Florida Hurricane Fact
    Florida is the state that is most prone to hurricanes
  • There are no dinosaur fossils in Florida. There are, however, fossils of giant sloths, ancestral horses, megafauna, mammoths, and mastodons.[12]
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