Miami metropolitan area


The Miami metropolitan area, also known as the Greater Miami Area, South Florida, or the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area is the 72nd largest metropolitan area in the world and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Located in southeastern Florida with 6,198,782 inhabitants as of 2018, the Miami metropolitan area is the most populous in Florida and second largest in the southeastern United States. It extends about from north to south.
The metropolitan area is defined by the Office of Management and Budget as the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach, FL, consisting of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, a metropolitan statistical area used for statistical purposes by the United States Census Bureau and other agencies. Its land area is 6,137 sq. mi.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties are the first, second, and third most populous counties in Florida, and Miami-Dade, with 2,761,581 people in 2018, is the seventh most populous county in the United States. The three counties together are known as the Greater Miami Area and have principal cities including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Hialeah, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, and Boca Raton. Besides its association with the South Florida region, which includes the Everglades and the Florida Keys, it is also synonymous with an area known collectively as the "Gold Coast".
Because the population of South Florida is largely confined to a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, the Miami urbanized area is about long, but never more than wide, and in some areas only wide. The Miami metropolitan statistical area is longer than any other urbanized area in the United States except for the New York metropolitan area. It was the eighth most densely populated urbanized area in the United States in the 2000 census.
As of the 2000 census, the urbanized area had a land area of, with a population of 4,919,036, for a population density of 4,407.4 per square mile. Miami and Hialeah had population densities of more than 10,000 per square mile. The Miami Urbanized Area was the fourth largest urbanized area in the United States in the 2010 census.
The Miami metropolitan area also includes several urban clusters as of the 2000 Census which are not part of the Miami Urbanized Area. These are the Belle Glade UC, population 24,218, area 20,717,433 square meters and population density of 3027.6 per square mile; Key Biscayne UC, population 10,513, area 4,924,214 square meters and population density of 5529.5 per square mile; Redland UC, population 3,936, area 10,586,212 square meters and population density of 963.0 per square mile; and West Jupiter UC, population 8,998, area 24,737,176 square meters and population density of 942.1 per square mile.

Metropolitan divisions

The Miami metropolitan area consists of three distinct metropolitan divisions, subdividing the region into three divisions according to the region's three counties: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.
Miami metropolitan area divisions2000
Population		2010
Population		2018
Population		% change
Miami—Miami Beach—Kendall
2,253,362--
Fort Lauderdale—Pompano Beach—Deerfield Beach
1,623,018--
West Palm Beach—Boca Raton—Delray Beach
1,131,184--
5,007,564--

Cities

Largest cities

The following is a list of the twenty largest cities in the Miami metropolitan area as ranked by population.
RankCityCounty2000
population		2010
population		2018
population		2010 to 2018
% change
1MiamiMiami-Dade362,470--
2HialeahMiami-Dade226,419--
3Fort LauderdaleBroward152,397--
4Pembroke PinesBroward137,427--
5HollywoodBroward139,357--
6MiramarBroward72,739--
7Coral SpringsBroward117,549--
8Miami GardensMiami-Dade100,758--
9Pompano BeachBroward78,191--
10West Palm BeachPalm Beach82,103--
11DavieBroward75,720--
12Boca RatonPalm Beach74,764--
13SunriseBroward85,779--
14PlantationBroward82,934--
15Miami BeachMiami-Dade87,933--
16Deerfield BeachBroward64,583--
17Boynton BeachPalm Beach60,389--
18LauderhillBroward57,585--
19WestonBroward49,251--
20HomesteadMiami-Dade31,909--

Areas with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants

Population

The Miami area is a diverse community with a large proportion of foreign-born residents, in large part due to its proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Another factor is residents who were formerly snowbirds from the Northeast and, to a lesser extent, countries such as Canada.
Politically speaking, the region is heavily Democratic. Broward County is the second-most reliably Democratic county in the state, behind only Palm Beach County. This contrasts with most of the rest of Florida, whose heavier Southern influence leads it to vote for the Republican Party. With a majority Hispanic population in Miami-Dade, Republican votes are mainly by older generations of Cuban Americans, most of whom defected to the United States following the Cuban Revolution, but Miami-Dade County still remains very Democratic when compared with most of Florida's other counties. In the 2016 presidential election, 62.3% of voters in the Miami metropolitan area voted Democratic. This was the 6th highest of any metro area in the United States.
As of the 2005 American Community Survey, 5,334,685 people lived in the metropolis.
The Miami area has a large Jewish community; 10.2% of the population was Jewish in the 2000 Census.
Population: As of the 2010 U.S. Census, there were 5,564,635 people. 2.8 million were females and 2.6 million were males. The median age was 38.6 years. 24% of the population were under 18 years and 15% were 65 years and older. There were 2,097,626 households, and 1,378,108 families residing in the Miami metropolitan area.
Ethnicity:

The racial makeup of the population of the Miami area as of 2016:
National origin and language: Of the people living in the Miami metro area in 2005, 63% were born in the United States and 37% were foreign born. Among people at least five years old living in the region in 2005, 52% spoke English at home while 48% spoke some other language at home. Of those speaking a language other than English at home, 78% spoke Spanish and 22% spoke some other language.
Geographic mobility: In 2005, 83% of the people at least one year old living in the Miami metro area were living in the same residence one year earlier; 12% had moved during the past year from another residence in the same county, 2% from another county in the same state, 2% from another state, and 1% from abroad.
Households and families: There were 2,338,450 households, The average household size was 2.6 people. Families made up 65% of the households in the Miami area. This figure includes both married-couple families and other families. Nonfamily households made up 35% of all households in Miami. Most of the nonfamily households were people living alone, but some consisted of people living in households in which no one was related to the householder.

Miami dialect

In Miami-Dade County and Broward County and areas nearby, a unique dialect, commonly called the "Miami dialect", is widely spoken. The dialect developed among second- or third-generation Hispanics, including Cuban-Americans, whose first language was English It is based on a fairly standard American accent but with some changes very similar to dialects in the Mid-Atlantic Unlike Virginia Piedmont, Coastal Southern American, and Northeast American dialects and Florida Cracker dialect, "Miami accent" is rhotic; it also incorporates a rhythm and pronunciation heavily influenced by Spanish.
However, this is a native dialect of English, not learner English or interlanguage; it is possible to differentiate this variety from an interlanguage spoken by second-language speakers in that "Miami accent" does not generally display the following features: there is no addition of before initial consonant clusters with, speakers do not confuse of with,, and /r/ and /rr/ are pronounced as Alveolar approximant|alveolar approximant instead of alveolar tap or alveolar trill in Spanish.

Education

Education: In 2005, 83% of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 30% had a bachelor's degree or higher. Among people 16 to 19 years old, 7% were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not yet graduated from high school. The total school enrollment in the Miami Metro Area was 1.4 million in 2005. Nursery school and kindergarten enrollment was 170,000 and elementary or high school enrollment was 879,000 children. College or graduate school enrollment was 354,000.

Occupation, Income, and Industries

Occupations and Type of Employer: Among the most common occupations were: 32% were management, professional, and related occupations, 30% were sales and office occupations, 18% were service occupations, 11% were construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations, and 9% were production, transportation, and material moving occupations. 81% of the people employed were Private wage and salary workers; 12% were Federal, state, or local government workers; and 7% were Self-employed in own not incorporated business workers.
Income: The median income of households in the Miami area was $43,091. 78% of the households received earnings and 13% received retirement income other than Social Security. 30% of the households received Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $13. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.
Industries: In 2005, for the employed population 16 years and older, the leading industries in the Miami area were Educational services, health care and social assistance, which accounted for 18%, and Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services, which accounted for 13% of the population.
Traveling to Work: 79% of Miami area workers drove to work alone in 2005, 10% carpooled, 4% took public transportation, and 4% used other means. The remaining 3% worked at home. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 28.5 minutes to get to work.
Poverty and Participation in Government Programs: In 2005, 14% of people were in poverty. 19% of related children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 14% of people 65 years old and over. 11% of all families, and 26% of families with a female householder and no husband present had incomes below the poverty level.

Housing characteristics and costs

Changes in house prices for the area are publicly tracked on a regular basis using the Case–Shiller index; the statistic is published by Standard & Poor's and is also a component of S&P's 10-city composite index of the value of the residential real estate market.
Housing characteristics: As of 2005, the Miami area had a total of 2.3 million housing units, 13% of which were vacant. Of the total housing units, 52% were in single-unit structures, 45% were in multi-unit structures, and 3% were mobile homes. 25% of the housing units were built since 1990. As of 2019, over 70% of Miami's residents are renters with median rent of $1,355, $180 over the national average.
Occupied housing unit characteristics: In 2005, the Miami area had 2.0 million occupied housing units – 1.3 million owner occupied and 688,000 renter occupied.
Housing costs: In 2010, housing costs in the Miami area typically represented 40% of household income, compared to 34% nationwide.
Property tax increase: In March 2009, Miami area lawmakers passed a 5–10% hike in property tax millage rates throughout the metropolitan area to fund the construction of new schools and to fund understaffed schools and educational institutions, resulting in an increase in residents' property tax bills beginning in the 2009 tax year.

Education

In Florida, each county is also a school district. Each district is headed by an elected school board. A professional superintendent manages the day-to-day operations of each district, who is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the School Board.
The Miami-Dade County Public School District is currently the 4th-largest public school district in the nation. The School District of Palm Beach County is the 4th-largest in Florida and the 11th-largest in the United States. Broward County Public School District is the 6th-largest in the United States.
Some colleges and universities in Greater Miami include:
In 2005, 82% of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 28% had a bachelor's degree or higher. Among people 16 to 19 years old, 7% were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not graduated from high school. The total school enrollment in the Miami metro area was 1.4 million in 2005. Nursery school and kindergarten enrollment was 170,000 and elementary or high school enrollment was 879,000. College or graduate school enrollment was 354,000.

Transportation

Roads

The Miami metropolitan area is served by five interstate highways operated by the Florida Department of Transportation in conjunction with local agencies. Interstate 95 runs north to south along the coast, ending just south of Downtown Miami at South Dixie Highway. I-75 runs east to west, turning south in western Broward County and connecting suburban north Miami-Dade to Naples on the Southwest Coast via Alligator Alley, which transverses the Florida Everglades before turning north. I-595 connects the Broward coast and downtown Fort Lauderdale to I-75 and Alligator Alley. In Miami, I-195 and I-395 relay the main I-95 route east to Biscayne Boulevard and Miami Beach across Biscayne Bay via the Julia Tuttle and MacArthur causeways.
In greater Miami, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise maintain eight state expressways in conjunction with FDOT. The Airport Expressway and the Dolphin Expressway relay western Miami-Dade suburbs to the eastern urban coast at I-95, and to Miami Beach via I-195 and I-395 at the Airport and Midtown interchanges. The Gratigny Parkway connects northern Miami suburbs to the southern end of I-75. The Palmetto Expressway is the primary beltway road of urban Miami, relaying I-95 and Florida's Turnpike at the Golden Glades Interchange near northeastern North Miami Beach to the southern inland suburbs of Kendall and Pinecrest. The Don Shula Expressway and the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike form the southernmost end of the beltway, connecting the Palmetto Expressway to the bedroom communities of Homestead and Florida City. The Snapper Creek Expressway relays the Don Shula Expressway to South Dixie Highway.
The urban bypass expressway in greater Fort Lauderdale is the Sawgrass Expressway, connecting the northern Broward County coast at I-95 and Deerfield Beach to I-595 and I-75 at Alligator Alley in Sunrise.
Express lanes on I-95 start in southern Broward County and continue to Miami-Dade County. With an increased presence of traffic in South Florida, it is projected that express lanes will soon be implemented in southern Palm Beach County.

Major freeways and tollways

The metropolitan area is served by three major commercial airports. These airports combine to make the fourth largest domestic origin and destination market in the United States, after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
AirportIATA codeCountyFAA Category
Miami International AirportMIAMiami-DadeLarge Hub
Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International AirportFLLBrowardLarge Hub
Palm Beach International AirportPBIPalm BeachLarge Hub

The following smaller general aviation airports are also in the metro area:
AirportIATA codeICAO codeCounty
Dade-Collier Training and Transition AirportTNTKTNTMiami-Dade
Miami Homestead General Aviation AirportMiami-Dade
Homestead Joint Air Reserve BaseHSTKHSTMiami-Dade
Miami Executive AirportTMBKTMBMiami-Dade
Miami-Opa Locka Executive AirportOPFKOPFMiami-Dade
Fort Lauderdale Executive AirportFXEKFXEBroward
North Perry AirportHWOKHWOBroward
Pompano Beach AirparkPPMKPMPBroward
North Palm Beach County General Aviation AirportPalm Beach
Palm Beach County Park AirportLNAKLNAPalm Beach

Seaports

The metropolis also has four seaports, the largest and most important being the Port of Miami. Others in the area include Port Everglades, Port of Palm Beach and the Miami River Port. On August 21, 2012, PortMiami and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the Partnership Agreement construction agreement that will allow the Deep Dredge project to go out for bid. The Deep Dredge will deepen the Port's existing channels to minus 50/52 feet to prepare for the Panama Canal expansion, now scheduled for completion in early 2015. PortMiami's deeper channel will provide ships with an economically efficient, reliable and safe navigational route into the Port. PortMiami will be the only U.S. Port south of Norfolk, Virginia to be at the minus 50 foot depth in sync with the opening of the expanded Canal. Deep Dredge is expected to create more than 30,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in Florida and allow the Port to meet its goal to double its cargo traffic over the next decade.

Public transportation

is the largest public transit agency in Florida, operating rapid transit, people movers, and an intercity bus system. Metrorail is Florida's only rapid transit, currently with 23 stations on a track. The Downtown Miami people mover, Metromover, operates 20 stations and three lines on a track through the Downtown neighborhoods of the Arts & Entertainment District, the Central Business District, and Brickell. Metrobus serves the entirety of Miami-Dade County, also serving Monroe County as far south as Marathon, and Broward County as far north as downtown Fort Lauderdale. In Broward County, Broward County Transit runs public buses, as does Palm Tran in Palm Beach County. Additionally, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority operates Tri-Rail, a commuter rail train that connects the three of the primary cities of South Florida, and most intermediate points. Virgin Trains USA provides service to Miami, Aventura, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Central Florida's Orlando, with talks to expand to Tampa and Jacksonville.

Climate

South Florida/Miami metropolitan area has a tropical climate, the only metropolitan area in the 48 contiguous states that falls under that category. More specifically, it generally has a tropical monsoon climate. The South Florida metropolis sees most of its rain in the summer and is quite dry in the winter. The wet season, which is hot and humid, lasts from May to October, when daily thunderstorms and passing weak tropical lows bring downpours during the late afternoon. The dry season often starts in late October and runs through late April. During the height of the dry season from February through April, South Florida is often very dry, and often brush fires and water restrictions are an issue. At times cold fronts can make it all the way down to South Florida and provide some modest rainfall in the dry season. The hurricane season largely coincides with the wet season.
In addition to its sea-level elevation, coastal location and position near the Tropic of Cancer and the Caribbean, the area owes its warm, humid climate to the Gulf Stream, which moderates climate year-round. A typical summer day does not see temperatures below. Temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s accompanied by high humidity are often relieved by afternoon thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean, which then allow lower temperatures, although conditions still remain very muggy.
During winter, dry air often dominates as dew points are often very low. Average daily high temperatures across South Florida during the winter are around. Although daily highs can sometimes reach even in January and February. Daily low temperatures during the winter are generally around. Each winter, cold fronts occasionally make their way down to the northern Bahamas and South Florida. As a result, daily high temperatures in South Florida may only reach around. When this occurs low temperatures can dip into the 40s during the early morning hours before quickly warming-up toward late morning/early afternoon. It is rare for temperatures to drop below though. South Florida only experiences these cold spells about twice each winter and they typically only last a day or two before temperatures return to the mid 70s. On average coastal South Florida is frost-free, although there can be a light frost in the inland communities a few times each decade.
Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, although hurricanes can develop outside that period. The most likely time for South Florida to be hit is during the peak of the Cape Verde season, mid-August through the end of September. Due to its location between two major bodies of water known for tropical activity, South Florida is also statistically the most likely major area to be struck by a hurricane in the world, trailed closely by Nassau, Bahamas, and Havana, Cuba. Many hurricanes have affected the metropolis, including Betsy in 1965, Andrew in 1992, Irene in 1999, Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005, and Irma in 2017. In addition, a tropical depression in October 2000 passed over the city, causing record rainfall and flooding. Locally, the storm is credited as the No Name Storm of 2000, though the depression went on to become Tropical Storm Leslie upon entering the Atlantic Ocean.

Area codes

The Miami metro area is home to all five Major leagues:
The Miami area is also host to minor league sports, college sports, and other sports:
ClubSportLeagueVenue AttendanceLeague Championships
Miami DolphinsFootballNational Football LeagueHard Rock Stadium 70,035Super Bowl — 1972, 1973
Miami HurricanesFootballNCAA D-I Hard Rock Stadium 53,837National titles — 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001
Miami MarlinsBaseballMajor League BaseballMarlins Park 21,386World Series — 1997, 2003
Miami HeatBasketballNational Basketball AssociationAmerican Airlines Arena 19,710NBA Finals — 2006, 2012, 2013
Inter Miami CFSoccerMajor League SoccerInter Miami CF Stadium MLS Cup - None
FIU PanthersFootballNCAA D-I FIU Stadium 15,453-
Florida PanthersHockeyNational Hockey LeagueBB&T Center 10,250-
FAU OwlsFootballNCAA D-1 FAU Stadium 18,948-

Government

The metropolitan area is governed by 3 counties. In total there are 107 municipalities or incorporated places in the metropolis. Each one of the municipalities has its own city, town or village government, although there is no distinction between the 3 names. Much of the land in the metropolis is unincorporated, which means it does not belong to any municipality, and therefore is governed directly by the county it is located in.

Congressional districts

The Miami metropolitan area contains all or part of nine Congressional districts: the,,,,,,,, and. , the Cook Partisan Voting Index listed four as being Republican-leaning: the 18th, 25th, 26th, and 27th, with the 25th being the most Republican-leaning at R+5, and five as being Democratic-leaning: the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, with the 24th being the most Democratic-leaning at D+34, making it the ninth-most Democratic-leaning district in the nation.

Media

Greater Miami is served by several English-language and two major Spanish-language daily newspapers. The Miami Herald, headquartered in Doral, is Miami's primary newspaper with over a million readers. It also has news bureaus in Broward County, Monroe County, and Nassau, Bahamas. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel circulates primarily in Broward and southern Palm Beach counties and also has a news bureau in Havana, Cuba. The Palm Beach Post serves mainly Palm Beach County, especially the central and northern regions, and the Treasure Coast. The Boca Raton News publishes five days a week and circulates in southern Palm Beach County. El Nuevo Herald, a subsidiary of the Miami Herald, and Diario Las Americas, are Spanish-language daily papers that circulate mainly in Miami-Dade County. La Palma and El Sentinel are weekly Spanish newspapers published by the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel, respectively, and circulate in the same areas as their English-language counterparts.
Greater Miami is split into two separate television/radio markets: The Miami-Fort Lauderdale market serves Miami-Dade, Broward and the Florida Keys. The West Palm Beach market serves Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast region.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale is the 12th largest radio market and the 16th-largest television market in the U.S. television stations serving the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area include WAMI-TV, WBFS-TV, WSFL-TV, WFOR-TV, WHFT-TV, WLTV, WPLG, WPXM, WSCV, WSVN, WTVJ, WLRN-TV, and WPBT, the latter television station being the only channel to serve the entire metropolitan area.
In addition to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, West Palm Beach has its own. It is the 49th largest radio market and the 38th-largest television market in the U.S. Television stations serving the West Palm Beach area include WPTV, WPEC, WPBF, WFLX, WTVX, WXEL, WTCN, and WPXP. The West Palm Beach market shares use of WSCV and WLTV for Telemundo and Univision respectively. Also, both markets cross over and tend to be available interchangeably between both areas. In 2015, WPBT and WXEL merged their operations, to form South Florida PBS, although both stations have maintained separate programming schedules and social media platforms, but share the same subchannel lineup.