to
Update
is a town in Manatee and Sarasota counties along the central west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located on a barrier island of the same name. Longboat Key is south of Anna Maria Island, between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost equally divided between Manatee and Sarasota counties. The Town of Longboat Key was incorporated in 1955 and is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Longboat Key is located at . It is north of St. Armands Key, with its circle of shopping and dining, and Lido Key, and south of Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, and Anna Maria, which are located on adjacent Anna Maria Island. The nearby cities of Sarasota and Bradenton and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport round out Longboat Key's varied list of geographic amenities. Gulf of Mexico Drive runs the length of the island, with ancillary boulevards branching off to residential neighborhoods. From some locations one can see both Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. At other points the island widens and accommodates various homes owned both singly and in condominiums, hotels, and sports clubs.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 17.1 square miles (44.2 km²), of which, 4.9 square miles (12.7 km²) of it is land and 12.1 square miles (31.5 km²) of it (71.18%) is water.
Some Longboat Key residents are "snowbirds," who vacation on or own second homes on Longboat Key, and are present only during the winter months. Others are homesteaders, utilizing the various homestead exemptions provided to Florida citizens who own and occupy their principal residences within the state, as set forth under the Florida Constitution.
There are numerous restaurants on Longboat Key, including The Dry Dock, the Longboat Key Club Restaurant, Cafe On the Bay, Euphemia Haye, Harry's, Columbia, Cork, The Bottle Shop, and The Old Salty Dog. There are also full-service grocery stores, including Publix, and pharmacies, located centrally.