North Central Florida · Alachua County

Living in Alachua, Florida

Alachua is a city in Alachua County, with about 10,743 people.¹ It feels rural or spread out, at 297 people per square mile.^1,3

10,743¹people

$299,200¹median home value

$1,284/mo¹median rent

37.9¹median age

Nearest 24-hour emergency room

UF Health Shands Hospital, in Gainesville, about 10 miles away.²

Straight-line distance from the town's center; driving is longer. Freestanding ERs and urgent care aren't counted.

Life in North Central Florida

Florida's college-town and horse-country middle: Gainesville and the University of Florida, Ocala's thoroughbred farms, and The Villages, the giant retirement community.^4,5,6,7,8

Hazards: Hurricanes arrive weaker than on the coast, but wind, falling trees, long power outages and flooding still reach inland. Mobile and manufactured homes should evacuate; Marion County's own hurricane guidance says so.^9,10

Visitor information

Alachua County's official tourism office: Visit Gainesville.¹¹ Ask about local events, things to do and a free visitor guide, if they offer one.

Read the free North Central Florida preview, including the region's state-certified visitor centers.

The full Alachua town card

Choosing Your Place has the complete card for Alachua and 779 other places:

How its home values, rent, age and income compare with the rest of North Central Florida
Household income, and how many ER hospitals are within 15 miles
The nearest airline airport and the nearest big airport
The full region profile, side-by-side compare and the monthly-cost calculator

Get Choosing Your Place · $9.99 See a full sample card

Other places in Alachua County

Gainesville · 145,702 people · home value $247,500
Newberry · 7,865 people · home value $288,100
High Springs · 6,544 people · home value $320,700
Hawthorne · 1,625 people · home value $177,800
Waldo · 1,303 people · home value $113,600

Written by Charles Squires, North Port, Florida. 40 years living in Florida, in eight places.

I called on schools in Sumter County and across this part of the state.

More about the author and how this manual is made

"Median" means half are above and half below. Figures are U.S. Census Bureau estimates for Alachua as a Census-defined place; the area a mailing address calls Alachua can be larger.