The share of Hispanics living in Florida grew by almost 60 percent over the past decade as the percentage of white residents declined slightly and the proportion of blacks and Asians inched up, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census.
Hispanics now make up 22.5 percent of Florida's 18.8 million residents, up from 16.7 percent of Floridians in 2000, when the state only had 15.9 million residents, the Census data showed.
Most of Florida's largest counties and cities grew more rapidly than the nation since 2000, according to 2010 Census data released Thursday.
"It's a story of two different half-decades," says Stanley Smith, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida. "The first half was so great that it made up for any decline of the past few years."
Pinellas County's unemployment rate for April is down nearly a full percentage point, according to the latest figures from the Florida Agency of Workforce Innovation.
April's rate was 11.5 percent, compared to March when 12.4 percent of the county's labor force was looking for a job.
In April, 51,629 of the county's labor force of 447,989 were looking for a job. In March, 55,693 out of a labor force of 450,195 were unemployed.
Volusia County continued to lose residents in 2009 while Flagler County, though plagued by higher unemployment, continued to grow, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday.
Volusia lost an estimated 1,454 residents between 2008 and 2009. That followed a similar loss of 1,425 between 2007 and 2008.
Although the combined losses total less than 1 percent of the county's estimated 2007 population of 498,769, they are a sign of the recession's lingering impact.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It’s a small bounce, but Florida’s population should rebound this year from its first loss in more than half a century in a hopeful sign for the struggling state economy, new estimates from the University of Florida show.
The Sunshine State is expected to add about 23,000 residents between April 1, 2009, and April 1, 2010, following a loss of almost 57,000 residents the previous year, according to population projections released today by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Your correspondent believes demographics is destiny.
An easy thing to believe in Florida. A place where population growth -- or its sudden reversal -- can explain almost everything we do. At least those things that are explainable. Not everything is, you know.
So when the U.S. Census Bureau released a compilation of Baby Boomer statistics the other week, he took notice. Boomers are people born during the population burst between 1946-1964.
THE VILLAGES — While at their neighborhood recreation center, Village of Duval residents Paul and Dawne Lampson gazed across the street last week and expressed an amazement shared by neighbors Jerry and Sue Wilson and Jim and Gayle Opatrny.
Just a year or so ago, an expanse of undeveloped land existed across the street from the Odell Circle pool, bocce court and postal station.
TALLAHASSEE — A development boom is brewing under the radar of Floridians distracted by deteriorating real estate values and record foreclosures. The state is processing an unprecedented number of proposals for new homes and commercial development. If approved, these projects could pump more than 600,000 rooftops onto a market suffering from a surplus of product and slowdown in population growth.
