Hernando County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 172,778. Its county seat is Brooksville, and its largest community is Spring Hill. Hernando County is included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Florida's Nature Coast is the home to vast wildlife from alligators to black bears, flamingos to pelicans, manatees to sea turtles. Located approximately 35 miles north of downtown Tampa, Hernando County covers 312,000 acres (477 sq. miles), stretching 37 miles from east to west and 18 miles from north to south. Bordered on the west by the Gulf of Mexico.
