May we count your visit with Google Analytics? It uses cookies and sends visit data to Google. You can change this any time under Cookie choices. Privacy

Where am ILOCATED

Gainesville, FL Metro Area

The Gainesville, FL metro area is made up of 3 counties in Florida: Alachua, Levy, and Gilchrist, largest first. About 359,036 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 5.8% more than in April 2020.

Alachua County, centralGilchrist County, outlyingLevy County, outlyingGainesville
Central Outlying 3 counties in Florida
Population, July 2025
359,036 5.8% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
3: 1 central, 2 outlying
Land area
2,344 sq mi (6,070 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
Florida
Combined statistical area
Gainesville-Lake City, FL
CBSA code
23540
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Gainesville, FL metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Alachua CountyCentral290,02880.8%
Levy CountyOutlying48,52013.5%
Gilchrist CountyOutlying20,4885.7%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central county, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Gainesville145,702 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Gainesville-Lake City, FL combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other area in this one is

  1. Lake City, FL Micro Area74,094 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Ocala, FL Metro Area37 mi south
  2. Lake City, FL Micro Area39 mi northwest
  3. Palatka, FL Micro Area41 mi east
  4. Homosassa Springs, FL Metro Area61 mi south

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗