Citra is a rural, unincorporated community in northern Marion County, Florida, located between Ocala to the south and Gainesville to the north. It lies within the Ocala metropolitan area, and its character is defined by open farmland, citrus groves, and the long, low landscape of north-central Florida's horse and agricultural country. As an unincorporated place, Citra does not have its own city government; services and planning are provided by Marion County, and the community's identity is carried by its rural setting, its schools, and its place in Florida's citrus and literary history. The area's story is deeply tied to the orange. North-central Florida, including the Orange Lake region near Citra, prospered as a citrus center in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the community's name itself evokes that heritage. The countryside around Citra was also immortalized by author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who lived just to the northwest at Cross Creek and wrote about the region's scrub, lakes, and small-farm life. The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, at her preserved homestead, remains a short drive away. Today, Citra is anchored by a handful of institutions rather than a traditional downtown. The University of Florida's IFAS Plant Research and Education Unit operates a research facility here, continuing the area's agricultural legacy. North Marion High School and North Marion Middle School, both part of Marion County Public Schools, serve the community and the surrounding northern county. Orange Lake, one of the region's celebrated bass-fishing lakes, draws anglers and visitors, and a growing number of RV resorts and campgrounds line its shores. Life in Citra is quiet and spread out. Residents are typically drawn by acreage, space, and a rural pace, while still being within reasonable commuting distance of Ocala's employment and shopping and Gainesville's university community. For homebuyers, Citra represents country living in the classic Florida interior — large lots, scattered homes, and a landscape of pasture and grove — within reach of two of the region's larger cities.