Hurricane Andrew was not the deadliest storm ever to strike South Florida. It was not the costliest, even though the damage estimate of $45 billion in today's dollars puts it very near the top.
The number of Floridians on food stamps continues to hit record numbers -- with South Florida having an increase of more than 1.5 percent in May, said a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children & Families that oversees the federal food program.
A growing number of couples are acquiring living room furniture rather than wedding rings, as the traditional household headed by married spouses continues its retreat.
In Broward County, the number of unmarried couples living together rose by 24 percent in the past decade, from 41,638 to 51,644, new Census numbers show. They make up 7.5 percent of all households.
South Florida, which 40 years ago gave birth to senior citizen icons such as the early bird special and condo commando, is a retirement mecca no more, according to new Census statistics released Wednesday.
Broward County lost 4 percent of its 65-plus population between 2000 and 2010, the Census reported, while Palm Beach County gained a modest 9 percent.
Nearly four years after the start of a devastating recession, South Florida’s recovery barely musters a passing grade.
The hiring landscape can boast of only anemic job growth, but unemployment remains near record highs. Real estate prices are bumping along a bottom. Spending hasn’t kept pace with price increases. Only South Florida’s tourism and cargo industries can boast sustained growth.
Florida, once the nation's oldest state, is losing some of its gray.
Thanks to a lull in retiree migration and an increase in working-age adults, Florida has dropped three places to become the fifth-oldest state in the nation, according to census data released Thursday.
Emptiness is what people see today when they drive through the monogrammed iron gates of Lake Drawdy Reserve in east Orange County. There are paved cul-de-sacs, lakefront lots and fancy frosted-glass streetlights. But nobody lives there.
Thirty years from now, they will likely see 28 upscale homes occupied by young families, residents from abroad, refugees from coastal counties, in-migrants from other states and well-to-do retirees.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After declining for the first time since the end of World War II, Florida’s population grew once again last year, a hopeful yet tentative sign that the worst of the recession may have passed, according to the latest preliminary population estimates from the University of Florida.
The Sunshine State is estimated to have had the modest addition of more than 21,000 residents between 2009 and 2010 after its population fell by more than 56,000 between 2008 and 2009, said Stan Smith, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
For the first time since February 2006, Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen. April unemployment slipped to 12 percent from March’s revised rate of 12.3 percent.
This represents 1,113,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,282,000, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
