Georgia and Florida
Two bordering southern states in these United States. Two of the fastest growing states in the country right now.
Both are similar in size. Florida is just slightly bigger.
Both are two of the most ethnically diverse states in the country.
25.6% of those living in Florida identify as either Hispanic or Latino.
32.2% of those living in Georgia identify as African American.
The largest cities in both are about the same size.
Atlanta, in Georgia has a metropolitan population of about 5.9 million, and Miami, Florida, has a metro population of about 6.2 million.
According to Forbes magazine, both have promising economic futures.
The unemployment rate in both states is about the same.
Top industries in Florida include tourism, agriculture, and international trade.
Top industries in Georgia include agriculture as well, energy, and film.
Wait...film? Huh? Yep, they film a lot more TV shows and movies in Georgia due to tax incentives.
In fact, the only two states in the country that produce more big budget movies and TV shows is California and New York.
Georgia will give 20% tax credits for big budget films...30% if the show or film shows its logo at the end of the credits.
Both have similar percentages of citizens who got at least a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Both are two of the oldest states in the country.
However, Florida was settled by Europeans long before Georgia was.
Most of the American Indian nations who resided historically in Florida and Georgia were wiped out due to disease brought over by the Spanish.
Speaking of the Spanish, they had much more of a presence in Florida, controlling it off and on until 1819, after the United States basically just said, yeah it’s ours now.
In 1565, the Spanish established St. Augustine in Florida, which today still exists and is the oldest city in the United States.
In the 1700s, different American Indian tribes, notably the Muscogee, aka Creeks, moved into Florida.
Over the years a new nation formed of these groups called the Seminole.
The Seminole were well known for their resistance to American encroachment on their lands.
The most notable American Indian nation in Georgia was the Cherokee, who lived fairly peacefully with Georgians until several of them wanted their land.
Yeah, just like the Seminole, most of the Cherokee were eventually kicked out of Georgia, many sent via the infamous Trail of Tears.
But about 100 years before that, Georgia was one of the original 13 British colonies and a place where American Indian land was actually respected.
Founded by General James Oglethorpe in 1732, he wanted Georgia to be a place where English citizens who were imprisoned for debt, as well as “the worthy poor,” could start over.
He was pretty strict with his rules in those early years, banning alcohol and even banning slavery.
Yeah but that slavery ban was eventually lifted.
By the time Georgia and Florida became states, they had plenty of slavery.
Both states would eventually leave the United States and join the Confederate States of America, fighting to keep the institution of slavery in the American Civil War.
After the the Confederates lost the Civil War, both states were readmitted into the Union in 1868.
Their economies both struggled after the war.
After the Reconstruction period, Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation went into effect in both states.
Later, though, it would be Georgia where the Civil Rights Movement really took off.
During the later half of the 1800s and first half of the 1900s, it was mostly Georgia that grew in population.
However, that all changed with the invention of the air conditioner.
After the air conditioner, people could go inside and escape the heat and humidity!
In 1950, Florida had less people than Georgia.
By 1990, it had more than double the amount of people as Georgia.
In recent decades, both Georgia and Florida have become more diverse, but politically Georgia still remains more conservative than Florida.
The last Democratic President Georgia elected was the fellow Southerner Bill Clinton in 1992, and before that Jimmy Carter, who used to be Governor of Georgia.
Florida, meanwhile, is what we call a swing state, meaning people’s votes go back and forth between the two major political parties and their votes actually count in presidential elections.
Woah! Republican Donald Trump edged out Democrat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.
Democrat Barack Obama won the previous two elections, and Republican George W. Bush won the two elections before that.
Bush won Florida by just a few hundred votes in 2000, which literally was the reason why he won that race that year.
Oh yeah, check out my many videos about that election.
While researching this video, I was bit surprised on all the differences between the two states.
There are a lot.
Florida is less religious than Georgia.
Of those who identify as religious in both states, Christianity of course is the dominant religion, with the largest sect in Georgia Baptist and Catholic in Florida.
Florida has more foreign born residents.
About 1 out of every 5 residents is an immigrant. Most of these immigrants are from nearby Cuba.
Yeah, Florida has, by far, the most Cuban Americans in the country.
Many Cubans first came to Florida after Fidel Castro took over in 1959.
More than 27% of Florida residents speak a language other than English.
Mildly fun fact. Miami is closer to Havana, Cuba than it is to Tampa.
For being so close to each other, the geography of both states is pretty different.
For starters, Florida just sticks right out there and is mostly surrounded by water.
It’s what you call a peninsula.
There is the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and the Straits of Florida to the south.
As I referenced earlier, Florida is pretty close to Cuba, but it’s also freaking close to the Bahamas.
As such, Florida has some of the busiest cruise ports in the world.
Well PortMiami is the largest passenger port in the world.
But leaving and arriving to Florida? More like going to Florida.
With its beaches and attractions like Disney World, tens of millions of tourists go on vacation to Florida each year.
Georgia is just not known for tourism like Florida is.
Florida is swampier than Georgia.
It’s also generally much flatter, and while there are some hills in the central and northern parts of the state, Florida is barely above sea level when it’s not actually at sea level.
Um, yeah, that last part. Miami and other parts of the state are some of the most vulnerable in the world when it comes to rising sea levels due to climate change.
Speaking of climate change, Florida has many more hurricanes than Georgia.
Usually, by the time hurricanes end up getting to Georgia, they have turned into tropical storms, which still can be pretty brutal.
The Sunshine state? Yeah, right. Florida may have that nickname, but it gets lots of rain, more than any other state as matter of fact.
It also gets more lightning than any other state.
While it’s pretty darn warm and muggy much of the year, it’s pretty darn nice in the winter.
Georgia, being further north, of course gets a little cooler than Florida, but its higher elevations also accelerate that.
In the northwestern part of the state, it has freaking mountains, part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians.
Ok I know, the locals pronounce it AppaLATCHuh.
The hilly Piedmont Plateau region stretches across central Georgia.
While Florida has a straight up tropical climate at its southern edge, most of it is classified as humid subtropical and warm oceanic climate.
Georgia is also generally humid subtropical, but of course the mountains and Atlantic Ocean like to shake things up a bit.
Florida is in two time zones, Georgia just one. So take that, Georgia. Woah sorry, Georgia. I don’t know where that came from.
(Atlanta clip) How's your parents?
Good, good. They're driving to Florida right now to visit my uncle who's dying.
Oh, Florida, huh?
Make sure you tell 'em to watch out for Florida Man.
What's Florida Man?
It seems that Florida is notorious for weird stories coming out of the state.
You know, like the story about that dude from Gainesville who got mad at his girlfriend an grabbed an alligator out of his bathtub to swing around at her as a weapon?
Speaking of alligators, Florida has a lot more than Georgia.
Or the story of the lady who thought she was a mermaid and got in trouble for wearing her mermaid costume in a community pool because it violated a “no fins” policy?
So why do all these stories come out of Florida?
Are Florida residents just weirder? Is it because Florida just has a lot of people so the odds are greater?
Well, it’s more likely that we just HEAR about the crazy stuff more because Florida law lets the media have basically unlimited access to police reports in the state.
Florida appears to have more crime than Georgia.
Florida is more expensive than Georgia, mostly due to housing.
Georgia has a higher poverty rate than Florida, despite having a higher GDP per capita than Florida.
Georgia spends more money per student on education, although both states are below the national average in that category.
Florida is known as the number one place for retirees to um, retire to.
When you go there...there’s just old people everywhere, dude.
So yeah, Georgia is a lot younger than Florida. Most of the rest of the country is, too, but surprisingly Florida isn’t the state with the oldest population.
Florida has less taxes overall than Georgia.
However, Florida has more boy bands who originated there. Georgia has more rappers. Well, decent ones at least.
Ok, once I realized that I was looking up how many boy bands came out of both states, I knew it was about time to wrap this up.
Despite a heated college football rivalry between Bulldogs and Gators, these two states don’t seem to hate each other that much.
Maybe that’s because they ain’t got to.
They both have bright futures, well unless we don’t get that whole climate change thing figured out.
(Ace Ventura clip) Oh...there is just one more thing, lieutenant.
If you live in Florida. Watch out for those pythons.
This video was suggested by my Patreon supporter TheNobleYoshi. Thanks for the great suggestion!
So, what do you think? Oranges or peaches?
Which state do YOU like better? What else should I have included in this video?
What did I get right? What did I get wrong?
Which two states should I compare next?
Ok that’s a lot of questions. I’m sorry about that. Thanks for watching!