Pensacola, Florida in the context of "Gulf Coast of the United States"

Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the most populous city in Bay County and a principal city of the Panama City–Panama City Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of approximately 200,534. According to the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 32,939 (excluding Panama City Beach), a decrease from 36,484 at the 2010 United States census.

The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a salient roughly 200 miles (320 km) long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. It is defined by its southern culture and rural demographics in contrast to urbanized central and southern Florida, as well as closer cultural links to Alabama and Georgia. Its major communities include Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City Beach, and Tallahassee.

As is the case with the other eight U.S. states that have panhandles, the geographic meaning of the term is inexact and elastic. References to the Florida panhandle always include the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River, a natural geographic boundary, which was the historic dividing line between the British colonies of West Florida and East Florida. These western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone (with the exception of Gulf County, which is divided between the Eastern and Central Time zones), while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. References to the panhandle may also include some or all of eleven counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region, along the curve of Apalachee Bay.

Escambia County is the westernmost and oldest county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 321,905. The county seat and largest city is Pensacola. Escambia County is included within the Pensacola Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county population has steadily increased as the City of Pensacola and its surrounding bedroom communities continue to grow with residential and commercial development. The county is part of the Northwest Florida region of the state.

The Pensacola metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on Pensacola, Florida. It is also known as the Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) used for statistical purposes by the United States Census Bureau and other agencies. The Pensacola Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was first defined in 1958, with Pensacola as the principal city, and included Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. The MSA was renamed Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent MSA in 2003, with the unincorporated census-designated places Ferry Pass and Brent added as principal cities. The population of the MSA in the 2020 census was 511,502.

The five incorporated cities within the MSA are Pensacola (Population: 54,312), Milton (10,197), Gulf Breeze (6,302), Century (1,713), and Jay (524). In addition, several unincorporated census-designated places account for a great number of the population. Most notable is Navarre (43,540); its population makes it the second largest community in the metro area, only behind Pensacola.

Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle.

The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacola, Florida, and is about 13 miles (21 km) long and 2.5 miles (4 km) wide. The Pensacola Bay estuarine system, which also includes Escambia Bay, Blackwater Bay, East Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, and the Escambia, Blackwater, Yellow, and East Bay rivers, is 144 square miles, and it is the fourth largest estuarine system in Florida.

30°22′57″N 86°51′23″W / 30.38250°N 86.85639°W / 30.38250; -86.85639Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile (64 km) barrier island located in the U.S. state of Florida, thirty miles (48 km) east of the Alabama state border. The communities of Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Okaloosa Island are located on the island. On the northern side of the island, are Pensacola Bay on the west (see map) and Choctawhatchee Bay on the east, joined through Santa Rosa Sound.

Santa Rosa Island has weathered numerous hurricanes and other tropical cyclones, including the hurricane of September 1559, Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal (both in 1995), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Dennis (2005), Tropical Storm Claudette (2009), and the remnants of Hurricane Ida (2009).

Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (IATA: NPA, ICAO: KNPA, FAA LID: NPA) is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits.

It is best known as the initial primary training base for all U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers pursuing designation as naval aviators and naval flight officers, the advanced training base for most naval flight officers, and as the home base for the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the precision-flying team known as the Blue Angels. The air station also hosts the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) and the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI). With the closure of Naval Air Station Memphis in Millington, Tennessee, and the transition of that facility to Naval Support Activity Mid-South, NAS Pensacola also became home to the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) Memphis, which relocated to Pensacola and was renamed NATTC Pensacola. NATTC provides technical training schools for nearly all enlisted aircraft maintenance and enlisted aircrew specialties in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard. The NATTC facility at NAS Pensacola is also home to the USAF Detachment 1, a geographically separated unit (GSU) whose home unit is the 359th Training Squadron located at nearby Eglin AFB.NAS Pensacola contains Forrest Sherman Field, home of Training Air Wing SIX (TRAWING 6), providing undergraduate flight training for all prospective naval flight officers for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and flight officers/navigators for other NATO/Allied/Coalition partners. All USAF Undergraduate CSO Training (UCSOT) for all USAF aircraft is consolidated at NAS Pensacola as a strictly USAF organization and operation under the 479th Flying Training Group (479 FTG), an Air Education and Training Command (AETC) unit. The 479 FTG is a tenant activity at NAS Pensacola and a GSU of the 12th Flying Training Wing (12 FTW) at Randolph AFB, Texas. The 479 FTG operates USAF T-6A Texan II and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft.