Population
South Florida is a very diverse community with much of the population coming from all over Latin America (especially South Americans from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Guyana, and most Central American countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala) and the Caribbean (especially Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Barbados and other West Indians.)
Another large factor are residents who were former snowbirds from the Northeast, like New York and New Jersey. Many of them come from a variety of age-ranges, mostly retirees, and tend to be Jewish-American, Italian-American, Irish-American, Puerto Rican-American (Nuyorican), Dominican-American, African-American, and other second and third-generation Americans.
To a lesser extent, snowbirds are also from the Midwest (mostly Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan) and West Coast (mainly California,) as well as the South (chiefly Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas), and smaller numbers from the Pacific Northwest.
Many Canadians (mostly French Canadians), Brazilians, Israelis, Russians and Europeans (mainly from Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and France) also add to the diversity, though people from all over the world live in South Florida.
There is also a notable difference in the culture of South Florida and the rest of Florida, as it tends to be more of a multicultural mosaic and a salad bowl rather than a melting pot, whereas some parts of Central Florida, the Tampa Bay Area, and Southwest Florida, and the majority of the Florida Heartland, the Florida Panhandle, North Florida and elsewhere in Florida have more of a Southern culture.
Politically speaking, South Florida is heavily Democratic, especially Broward (which is the second most reliably Democrat and liberal county in Florida, with the exception of the much less populous Gadsden County, where African Americans are a majority). Also, Palm Beach is largly Democrat as well, especially amongst the Jewish community, while the rest of Florida tends to vote more Republican. This is due in large part to Southern politics. With a majority Hispanic population in Miami-Dade, Republican votes are mainly by older generations of Cuban Americans most of whom had fled to the United States to escape the Communist reign of Fidel Castro, but Miami-Dade County still remains very Democratic when compared with most of Florida's other counties.
As of the 2005 American Community Survey there is a total of 5,334,685 people living in the metropolis.
Population: As of the 2005 U.S. Census, there were 5,334,685 people, mainly upper class people. 2.8 million (52%) were females and 2.6 million (48%) 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 2,338,450 households, and 1,326,391 families residing in the South Florida metropolitan area.
Ethnicity:
The racial makeup of population of South Florida [5,334,685] as of 2005:[21]
White: 72% [3,840,973]
White Non-Hispanic: 39% [2,080,527]
White Hispanic: 33% [1,760,446]
Black (many from the Caribbean [West Indian]) or African American: 21% [1,075,174]
Native American: less than 0.5% [10,582]
Asian (many of Indo-Caribbean, Asian Latino and Chinese Caribbean origin): 2% [111,196]
Pacific Islander: less than 0.5% [3,346]
Other races: 5% [286,399]
Two or more races: 2% [91,520]
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 38% [2,013,725] of the population
Language and national origin
National origin and language: Of the people living in the South Florida metro area in 2005, 63 percent were born in the United States (including 30 percent who were born in Florida) and 37 percent were foreign born. Among people at least five years old living in South Florida in 2005, 52 percent spoke English at home while 48 percent spoke some other language at home. Of those speaking a language other than English at home, 78 percent spoke Spanish and 22 percent spoke some other language (mainly Haitian Creole, but also French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian or Yiddish). About 47 percent reported that they did not speak English "very well."
Geographic mobility: In 2005, 83 percent of the people at least one year old living in the South Florida metro area were living in the same residence one year earlier; 12 percent had moved during the past year from another residence in the same county, 2 percent from another county in the same state, 2 percent from another state, and 1 percent from abroad.
Households and families: There were 2,338,450 households, The average household size was 2.6 people. Families made up 65 percent of the households in South Florida. This figure includes both married-couple families (45 percent) and other families (20 percent). Nonfamily households made up 35 percent of all households in South Florida. 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.
Education
Education: 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 South Florida 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.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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