Florida County Map - A Must Have Resource to Explore Your Options

If you are retiring to or buying a home in Florida, a Florida County Map will serve you better than a Florida Counties list in terms of orienting you to the State and one county to another. When you start to research Florida's counties and Florida's cities for your new home, you may feel overwhelmed at first. There are an incredible variety of options to choose from. But you can start  with some basic information on the different regions of the state. When people discuss Florida's counties and cities, they usually describe them as being in one of eight very different and distinct regions: Northwest and North Central (normally referred to together as the Panhandle), Northeast, Central West, Central, Central East, Southwest, and Southeast.

The Panhandle area reaches from Alabama to the Suwannee River and you’ll see on your Florida County map that it is a rather thin and flat shape that resembles the 'handle' of the rest of the state. Some of the largest of Florida's cities in this area of the state are Tallahassee, the state capital, and Pensacola and Panama City on the Gulf Coast. It has some of the loveliest stretches of coastline in the state.

Some of the most historic of Florida's counties and towns are located in the Northeast region. The oldest settlement town in the United States, St. Augustine, is found here in St. John's County. The largest city in the region is Jacksonville in Duval County, which spans an incredible 841 square miles across the region.

If you are looking for a fast growing region with some of the world's whitest beaches, then Central West may be right for you. The cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, Bradenton, and Clearwater are all here. The metropolitan area around Tampa in Hillsborough County is actually the largest in the state - even larger than the city of Miami. The incredibly white beaches stretch about 90 miles along the Gulf Coast. The property in this region is in demand, and Pinellas County is not only one of the most expensive in the state, but it is also the most densely populated.

Known as the 'heartland', if you have ever vacationed in Florida, you have likely been to Central Florida - especially if you have children in your life. This region contains the world's largest concentration of amusement and theme parks, with most of them concentrated around the city of Orlando. Or try one of the 1,000 lakes of Lake County.

Those cities and counties that are famous to race fans and space fans are found in the Central East region. It is the location of the Daytona 500 and other car races, and the home of the NASA Kennedy Space Center. You can tour the center and, if you time it right, watch a Space Shuttle launch.

If a resort area is more your style, you could pick a location in the Southwest region. The cities of Naples and Venice have some excellent choices. Or, the islands of Captiva, Marco, or Sanibel might just fulfill your needs on the Gulf Coast. Your Florida County Map will depict an unusual coast line, where more than 10,000 islands dot the landscape.

Starting at Palm Beach and reaching down to the Keys, Southeast Florida is the region that draws the rich and famous from around the world. You can often find movie stars, rock stars, millionaires and their hangers-on romping around the famous nightlife spots in this region, known as the Gold Coast. You've at least heard of the largest cities in this region, even if you haven't visited them yet: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Key West, to name a few. A Florida County Map that you can download free of charge can be found at florida-retirement.net.