Alachua County, Florida

Alachua County is a county in Florida, United States, home to the University of Florida and anchored by the city of Gainesville, in the north-central part of the state. It had a population of 278,468 at the 2020 census and covers 875 square miles (2,270 km2) of land, centred near 29°41′N 82°22′W.

Gainesville is the county seat; its postal code is 32601. The county has 9 incorporated cities and towns, more than a dozen unincorporated communities, and no civil townships. It sits in the Eastern time zone, and its FIPS code is 12001.

Towns & Villages in Alachua County

Nine places are incorporated, ranging from Gainesville, home to roughly half the county’s population, down to the small town of La Crosse. The rest of the list below is unincorporated communities — some with post offices of their own, several dating to the 19th century as citrus and farming settlements before the 1894–95 Great Freeze reshaped the county’s economy.

Gainesville and Alachua are the only places on this list with a genuinely separate postal identity from a neighbor — Micanopy Junction is a rail crossing on the edge of Micanopy proper, and several of the smaller unincorporated names (Jonesville, Haile) now sit inside Gainesville’s built-up western suburbs rather than as standalone villages.

ZIP Codes

• 32601, 32603, 32605, 32606, 32607, 32608, 32609, 32612, 32641, 32653 — Gainesville (the university and downtown carry the 32601/32611/32612 codes)
• 32615 — Alachua
• 32669 — Newberry
• 32643 — High Springs
• 32640 — Hawthorne
• 32618 — Archer
• 32694 — Waldo
• 32667 — Micanopy
• 32658 — La Crosse (PO Box only)
• 32631 — Earleton

Most of the unincorporated communities without their own ZIP use their nearest incorporated town’s postal code.

Geography

Alachua County sits on the karst uplands of north-central Florida, where sinkholes and prairies interrupt the pine flatwoods; the Cross Creek area between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake was Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ home and setting for her novel The Yearling. Payne’s Prairie, a former lake basin south of Gainesville, is the county’s largest natural landmark. Of the county’s 969 square miles, 875 are land and 94 are water, chiefly Newnans Lake, Orange Lake, and Lochloosa Lake.

Alachua County borders eight other counties: Columbia and Union to the north, Bradford and Clay to the northeast, Putnam to the east, Marion to the south, Levy to the southwest, and Gilchrist to the west.

Demographics

Alachua County had 278,468 residents at the 2020 census, a density of about 318 people per square mile. Gainesville is by far the largest community, followed by Alachua. The county’s median household income runs below the Florida median of $73,311, a gap driven largely by the tens of thousands of University of Florida students counted as county residents but earning little independent income.

Economy & Local Life

The University of Florida, with roughly 55,000 students and one of the largest employers in the state, dominates the county’s economy, alongside UF Health Shands Hospital and Santa Fe College. Beyond the university, the county has a working agricultural base — peanuts, cattle, and nursery/greenhouse crops around Newberry and Archer — and a reputation for its concentration of artists, musicians, and craftspeople, most visible each November at the Downtown Festival & Art Show in Gainesville.

History

Alachua County was created on December 29, 1824, one of Florida’s original counties, taking its name from a Timucua/Seminole word generally rendered as “big jug” or “sink,” referring to a large sinkhole near present-day Gainesville. The county’s history includes a documented pattern of racial violence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including a mass lynching in Newberry in 1916; the county government issued a formal resolution acknowledging this history in recent years. The University of Florida, chartered in Gainesville in 1906, reshaped the county from an agricultural county seat into a university town over the following century.

Getting There

Interstate 75 runs north–south through the county, with US 27, US 41, US 301, and US 441 providing additional routes; state roads 20, 24, 26, 121, 222, and 331 connect the smaller towns.

• Ocala — 35 miles south
• Jacksonville — 65 miles northeast
• Orlando — 100 miles southeast
• Tallahassee — 140 miles northwest

Gainesville Regional Airport is the county’s commercial airport, with connecting flights to major hubs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Alachua County, Florida?
It sits in the north-central part of the state, about 65 miles southwest of Jacksonville and 35 miles north of Ocala.

What is the population of Alachua County?
278,468 people, per the 2020 census.

How big is Alachua County?
875 square miles (2,270 km2) of land.

What is the county seat of Alachua County?
Gainesville is the county seat and home to the University of Florida.

How many towns are in Alachua County?
Nine incorporated cities and towns, plus more than a dozen unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Alachua County?
Gainesville uses several codes including 32601, 32603, and 32605; Alachua is 32615, Newberry is 32669, and High Springs is 32643, among others.

What is Alachua County known for?
The University of Florida, the annual Downtown Festival & Art Show, and Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Florida.