31 Facts About Florida Panhandle

1. Florida Panhandle is the region of the state of Florida which includes the westernmost 16 counties in the state.

2. The state of Florida Panhandle has given professional sports franchises some subsidies in the form of tax breaks since 1991.

3. Florida Panhandle gained its first permanent major-league professional sports team in 1966 when the American Football League added the Miami Dolphins.

4. Florida Panhandle has the largest collection of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings in both the United States and the entire world, most of which are located in the Miami metropolitan area, especially Miami Beach's Art Deco District, constructed as the city was becoming a resort destination.

5. In 2013, Florida Panhandle refused to participate in providing coverage for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, popularly called Obamacare.

6. Florida Panhandle has many seaports that serve container ships, tank ships, and cruise lines.

7. Florida Panhandle has 2 cities in the top 25 cities in the US with the highest average credit card debt, Miami and Tampa.

8. The economy of Florida Panhandle is driven almost entirely by its nineteen metropolitan areas.

9. Florida Panhandle imported US$75.4 billion worth of goods from around the globe in 2017.

10. In 2017, Florida Panhandle became the United States' eighth largest exporter of trade goods.

11. Florida Panhandle contains the highest percentage of people over 65.

12. Central Florida Panhandle is known as the lightning capital of the United States, as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country.

13. Climate of Florida Panhandle is tempered somewhat by the fact that no part of the state is distant from the ocean.

14. Florida Panhandle is one of the largest states east of the Mississippi River, and only Alaska and Michigan are larger in water area.

15. Florida Panhandle is west of The Bahamas and 90 miles north of Cuba.

16. Florida Panhandle is the southernmost state in the 48 contiguous states, with Hawaii being the only state reaching farther south.

17. Until the mid-20th century, Florida Panhandle was the least populous state in the southern United States.

18. On March 3, 1845, Florida Panhandle became the 27th state to join the United States of America.

19. Florida Panhandle had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or garrisons.

20. Florida Panhandle attracted numerous Africans and African Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery.

21. Florida Panhandle was the first region of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans.

22. Florida Panhandle has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, approximately 1,350 miles, not including the contribution of the many barrier islands.

23. Florida Panhandle has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes.

24. Florida Panhandle is a reflection of influences and multiple inheritance; African, European, indigenous, and Latino heritages can be found in the architecture and cuisine.

25. Florida Panhandle is home to 51 of the world's billionaires with most of them residing in South Florida.

26. Florida Panhandle is the largest producer of watermelons in the country.

27. Florida Panhandle has more toll roads and bridges than any other state in the Union.

28. South Florida Panhandle has millions of alligators, but the Panhandle only has thousands.

29. The Florida Panhandle offers one of the few remaining opportunities in the southeastern US to protect large areas of extremely unique ecosystems.

30. Florida Panhandle is renowned for the white sand beaches and blue-green waters of its barrier islands fronting the Gulf of Mexico.

31. Florida Panhandle suffered direct hits from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005.