Florida "The Sunshine State" (pop: 17,789,864) is situated mostly on a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. The state capital is Tallahassee and the largest city is Jacksonville (pop: 1.6M) . However both the greater Miami metropolitan area and Tampa are larger in population. In fact the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area is now the sixth largest in the country.

The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water and much of the state has a humid subtropical climate, with the extreme tip of Florida and the Florida Keys bordering on a true tropical climate.

Florida's economy relies heavily on tourism and about 60 million visitors visit the state every year for the warm weather and hundreds of miles of beach. The Walt Disney World Resort, countless water parks, shopping centers, and other facilities—located in Lake Buena Vista, drive the economy of Central Florida, along with more recent entries into the theme-park arena, such as the Universal Orlando Resort.

With the arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Florida has attracted a large number of aerospace and military industries.

• Jacksonville
• Miami
• Tampa
• St. Petersburg
• Hialeah
• Orlando
• Fort Lauderdale
• Tallahassee
• Pembroke Pines
• Hollywood