Thonotosassa is a census-designated place in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, on the suburban edge of Tampa. Its population was 15,238 at the 2020 census, up from about 13,000 a decade earlier, and the community spans a semi-rural landscape shaped by water: Lake Thonotosassa sits at its center, and the Hillsborough River forms its northern boundary. The name reaches deep into the area's past, deriving from the Seminole-Creek term "thlonoto sasse," meaning "the place of flint," for the flint deposits that indigenous people used to fashion tools and arrowheads. That river and lakeside geography has made Thonotosassa a recreation and conservation hub. Hillsborough River State Park, opened in 1938 as one of Florida's first state parks and built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, follows the river with hiking trails, paddling, campgrounds, and picnic areas. Within the park, the Fort Foster State Historic Site preserves a fort from the Second Seminole War era. The area also has a long agricultural history, developing as a fruit-growing region during the 1920s land boom. Today Thonotosassa is a quiet, mostly owner-occupied community with a suburban-rural mix and a substantial retiree population. Students attend Hillsborough County Public Schools, and the community sits within about six miles of the University of South Florida, with Florida College, Hillsborough Community College, and the University of Tampa also nearby. U.S. Route 301 and Thonotosassa Road connect commuters to Tampa, with Tampa International Airport about twenty miles away. For buyers, Thonotosassa offers lake and river living, state-park recreation, and rural space within reach of the Tampa Bay economy.