Miami is not a US state. It is a city in Florida. The state is Florida, the state code is FL, and the state capital is Tallahassee, not Miami.
Miami and Florida, side by side
| Is Miami a state? | No, it is a city |
|---|---|
| State it belongs to | Florida |
| USPS state code | FL |
| State capital | Tallahassee |
| Largest city in the state | Jacksonville |
| Region | South |
| Admitted to the Union | 1845 |
| State nickname | Sunshine State |
| Time zone | Eastern |
| Electoral votes | 30 |
Why people ask if Miami is a state
The name Miami travels further than the name Florida does. Flight boards, hotel listings, music and the Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins put the city in front of people who rarely see the state attached to it. A name that familiar and that rarely paired with anything larger gets filed under "state" by default.
Three things specific to Miami keep the question going:
- The name covers several separate cities. Miami Beach and Hialeah are their own municipalities with their own governments, not neighborhoods of Miami. When one name loosely spans that much ground, it starts to feel state sized.
- Miami is the seat of Miami-Dade County. Seeing the city name repeated on a larger unit of government pushes people to assume there is a still larger one called Miami.
- Florida charges no state income tax. Relocation articles write "moving to Miami" when the rule being described belongs to Florida. The tax break is a state rule, and it applies in Tampa and Jacksonville too.
The near answers people give instead
When someone learns Miami is not a state, the next guess is usually one of these four. Each is wrong in a different way.
- "Miami is the capital of Florida." Tallahassee is. It sits in the Panhandle in the far northwest of the state, while Miami is at the far southeast end.
- "Miami is the largest city in Florida." Jacksonville is.
- "Miami-Dade is a state." It is a county. Florida is divided into counties, and counties sit inside states.
- "Miami is in Ohio." Ohio has a Miami University and a Miami River, which is a genuine source of mix-ups. The city of Miami is in Florida.
What Florida actually is
Florida is a South region state admitted to the Union in 1845, and it is the only state that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It ranks 22nd of the 50 states by area, runs on Eastern time and carries 30 electoral votes. The nickname is the Sunshine State, the motto is "In God We Trust", the state flower is the orange blossom and the state tree is the sabal palm.
Two Florida facts that catch out people who only know Miami: the state grows around 70 percent of all US oranges, and Walt Disney World near Orlando covers more ground than the city of San Francisco.
Quick reference for forms and quizzes
- City: Miami
- State: Florida
- State abbreviation (USPS): FL
- State capital: Tallahassee
- County: Miami-Dade
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Is Miami a state?
No. Miami is a US city located in Florida, not a state. Miami is one of Florida's largest cities and a global tourism hub. The capital of Florida is actually Tallahassee, not Miami.
What state is Miami in?
Miami is in Florida. The USPS code is FL.
What's the capital of Florida?
The capital of Florida is Tallahassee. The largest city is Jacksonville, and Miami is neither of those.
Is Miami bigger than Tallahassee?
Yes. Tallahassee is the seat of state government, not the population center. Jacksonville is Florida's largest city, and Miami anchors the state's largest metropolitan area.