Welcome to Boca Raton!
Boca Raton is a city of 100,000 people (2018) on the east coast of Florida about halfway between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The name Boca ratón translates literally as "mouse mouth" (not "rat mouth") and is believed to derive from a Spanish nautical term for a shallow inlet filled with jagged rocks.
Boca Raton is a city in southern Palm Beach County, Florida. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone" and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. At the 2020 census, the population was 97,422. However, approximately 200,000 additional people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,012,331 people as of 2015. It is known as one of the wealthiest places in South Florida. Boca Raton is home to the main campus of Florida Atlantic University and the corporate headquarters of Office Depot. It is also home to the Evert Tennis Academy, owned by former professional tennis player Chris Evert. Boca Town Center, an upscale shopping center in central Boca Raton, is the largest indoor mall in Palm Beach County. The downtown area is established around a lifestyle center and entertainment hub named Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place, a mixed-used shopping, dining, and residential district.
Many buildings in the area have a Mediterranean Revival or Spanish Colonial Revival architectural theme, initially inspired by Addison Mizner, a resort architect who heavily influenced the city's early development. Still today, Boca Raton has a strict development code for the size and types of commercial buildings, building signs, and advertisements that may be erected within the city limits. The strict development code has led to several major thoroughfares without large signs or advertisements in the traveler's view.