Cudjoe Key is a census-designated place in Monroe County, Florida, on an island of the same name in the lower Florida Keys. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 1,695.

It was originally called Littleton Island.

It has a U.S. Army missile tracking station built during the Cuban missile crisis in 1960. The station flies a white radar moored balloon, known locally as'Fat Albert,'that runs a drug interdiction mission for the Drug Enforcement Administration. On April 20, 2007 a Cessna 182 crashed after its left wing struck the tether anchoring'Fat Albert' The aerostat is marked on air navigation charts inside...

Cudjoe Key is a census-designated place in Monroe County, Florida, on an island of the same name in the lower Florida Keys. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 1,695.

It was originally called Littleton Island.

It has a U.S. Army missile tracking station built during the Cuban missile crisis in 1960. The station flies a white radar moored balloon, known locally as'Fat Albert,'that runs a drug interdiction mission for the Drug Enforcement Administration. On April 20, 2007 a Cessna 182 crashed after its left wing struck the tether anchoring'Fat Albert' The aerostat is marked on air navigation charts inside a restricted area that contains the warning,'Caution: Unmarked balloon on cable to 14,000 [feet]. '

Possibly named for the Joewood tree (Jacquinia keyensis Mez), a native species which is also known as cudjoewood. A more likely derivation for the name is offered by writer John Viele of Summerland Key. He believes that Cudjoe, a very common West African name, was the name of a runaway or freed black who lived on the island at some point prior to Gerdes survey in 1849.

Geography
Cudjoe Key is located at (24.664298, -81.482339).