Gainesville is the county seat and largest city in Alachua County in the U.S. state of Florida, and the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census estimate for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, the nation's sixth largest university campus by enrollment, as well as to Santa Fe College. The Gainesville MSA was ranked as the #1 place to live in the 2007 edition of Cities Ranked and Rated. Gainesville was also ranked as one of the "best places to live and play" in 2007 by National Geographic... Adventure. Conversely, Gainesville was ranked as the 5th meanest city in the USA by the National Coalition for the Homeless twice in a row, in 2004 for its criminalization of homelessness and in 2009 for its ordinance restricting soup kitchens to 130-meals a day. 12,000 years ago Paleo Indians lived in Florida, but fewer than 100 sites have been found and although it is not known for certain whether any permanent settlements from that period were in the present city limits of Gainesville, archeological evidence of human presence exists.
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| County: | Alachua County |
| State: | Florida |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Population: | 124,354 |
| Area: | 49.1 sq. mi. |
| Time zone: | North American Eastern Time Zone |
| Also known as: | Hogtown, Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville FL |