North Central Florida · Alachua County

Living in Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is a city in Alachua County, with about 145,702 people.¹ It feels suburban, at 2,276 people per square mile.^1,3

145,702¹people

$247,500¹median home value

$1,296/mo¹median rent

26.5¹median age

Nearest 24-hour emergency room

UF Health Shands Hospital, listed in Gainesville.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 Gainesville town card

Choosing Your Place has the complete card for Gainesville 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

Alachua · 10,743 people · home value $299,200
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 Gainesville as a Census-defined place; the area a mailing address calls Gainesville can be larger.