How County Government Works in Florida

Florida has 67 counties, the number the Department of State lists, and Chapter 7 of the Florida Statutes gives each one its own boundary section (Department of State, Quick Facts; Chapter 7, Florida Statutes, County Boundaries).

The Constitution leaves it to the Legislature to create, abolish or change counties by law (Florida Constitution, Article VIII, section 1(a)).

Chapter 7 runs alphabetically from section 7.01, Alachua County, to section 7.67, Washington County, with Miami-Dade County at 7.13 and an extra section 7.221 that extends the Glades County boundary (Chapter 7 contents). Article VIII, section 1 says the state shall be divided by law into political subdivisions called counties and requires provision for the public debt whenever a county is created, abolished or changed (Article VIII, section 1(a)).

Sizes vary widely. The Department of State lists Palm Beach as the largest county at 2,578 square miles and Union as the smallest at 245 square miles, and names Miami-Dade the most populous county in the 2020 census with 2,701,767 residents (Florida Department of State, Quick Facts). Every county has a county seat holding the principal offices and permanent records of all county officers, and a seat can be moved only as general law provides (Article VIII, section 1(k)).

Unless a county charter provides otherwise, a Florida county is governed by a board of county commissioners of five or seven members serving staggered four year terms (Article VIII, section 1(e)).

After each decennial census the board must redraw commission districts of contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicable, and one commissioner living in each district is elected as the law provides (Article VIII, section 1(e)). Section 125.01 of the Florida Statutes gives the county governing body the power to carry on county government, and its list of powers includes county buildings, fire protection, hospitals and ambulance service, parks, libraries and museums, comprehensive plans, and zoning and business regulation (section 125.01, F.S.).

Counties covered by the part of chapter 125 that contains section 125.73 must appoint a county administrator as the administrative head of the county, responsible for all departments the commission controls (section 125.73, F.S.). One tax rule protects city residents: property inside a municipality cannot be taxed for county services provided only for the unincorporated area (Article VIII, section 1(h)).

Every Florida county elects five constitutional officers to four year terms: a sheriff, a tax collector, a property appraiser, a supervisor of elections and a clerk of the circuit court (Article VIII, section 1(d)).

The clerk does more than keep court files. Unless a special law approved by the county's voters or Article V, section 16 provides otherwise, the clerk of the circuit court is also ex officio clerk of the board of county commissioners, auditor, recorder and custodian of all county funds (Article VIII, section 1(d)). No instrument counts as recorded until it is filed at the county seat, or at a branch office the governing body designates, under Article VIII, section 1(k) (Article VIII, section 1(k)).

A charter county has all powers of local self government not inconsistent with general law, while a non-charter county has only the self government powers that general or special law gives it (Article VIII, section 1(f) and (g)).

The difference shows up when county and city ordinances collide. In a non-charter county, a county ordinance that conflicts with a municipal ordinance has no effect inside that city to the extent of the conflict, while a charter must itself say which prevails (Article VIII, section 1(f) and (g)). A county charter can be adopted, amended or repealed only by the county's voters in a special election called for that purpose (Article VIII, section 1(c)).

State law sets the route to a charter. Any county without a chartered consolidated government may locally initiate and adopt a home rule charter by a majority vote of its qualified electors (section 125.60, F.S.). The process starts with a resolution of the county commission or a petition signed by at least 15 percent of the county's qualified electors, after which a charter commission of 11 to 15 members, an odd number, must be appointed within 30 days (section 125.61, F.S.).

Florida's Constitution lets a county and one or more of its cities merge into a single government, and it separately keeps four 1885 sections in force, among them provisions for Duval and Dade counties (Article VIII, sections 3 and 6(e)).

A consolidation plan may be proposed only by special law and takes effect if approved by the voters of the county, or of the county and affected cities, as the plan provides; consolidation cannot spread taxation for older debt to areas that get no benefit from it (Article VIII, section 3). The schedule to Article VIII keeps sections 9, 10, 11 and 24 of the 1885 Article VIII in force for each county they affect until that county adopts a charter or home rule plan under the current article, and an editorial note reproduces 1885 section 9 on legislative power over the City of Jacksonville and Duval County (Article VIII, section 6(e) and note).

The same schedule validates the Metropolitan Dade County Home Rule Charter adopted under 1885 Article VIII, section 11, and lets the Metropolitan Government of Dade County exercise all powers general law gives municipalities, to the extent not inconsistent with existing cities' powers or general law (Article VIII, section 6(e) and (f)).

A 2018 constitutional revision bars county charters from abolishing the five elected county offices or making them appointed, effective January 5, 2021 in most counties and January 7, 2025 in Miami-Dade and Broward (Article VIII, sections 1(d) and 6(g)).

Under the amended section 1(d), notwithstanding subsection 6(e) of Article VIII, a county charter may not abolish the office of sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor of elections or clerk of the circuit court, transfer their duties to another office, change the four year term or choose the officers other than by election (Article VIII, section 1(d)). The schedule says the change also governed qualifying and the 2020 elections for county constitutional officers in most counties, and the 2024 elections in Miami-Dade and Broward (Article VIII, section 6(g)). The history note credits Constitution Revision Commission Revision No. 5, filed May 9, 2018 and adopted that year (Article VIII, section 6, history note).

One procedural rule applies in every county, chartered or not: county ordinances must be filed with the custodian of state records before they take effect at the time general law sets (Article VIII, section 1(i)).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by rereading Article VIII on the Florida Senate's constitution page, the 2026 Chapter 7 index and sections 125.01, 125.60, 125.61 and 125.73 on Online Sunshine, and the Department of State Quick Facts list.