Florida’s first population contraction since World War II is now affecting how advertisers see the Tampa-St. Petersburg market for the upcoming television season.

Nielsen Media Research said four of Florida’s major television markets – Tampa, Miami, Fort Myers and Tallahassee – are down in the overall ranking of designated market areas because of declines in domestic migration.

The following represent city-, county-, and regional-level news stories around the state relating to the BEBR Population Program's recent release of the April 1, 2009 preliminary population estimates.

Brevard's population dipped last year - Florida Today - August 24, 2009
UF: Polk Is Losing People - The Ledger - August 22, 2009

MANATEE — Manatee County has become slightly younger, a little more masculine, more racially diverse and a lot more Hispanic so far this decade, according to Census estimates to be released today.

The county’s Hispanic and Asian populations have nearly doubled, its median age has fallen by a few months and males narrowed their numerical gap with females between 2000 and mid-2008, the figures show.

The Census’ July 1, 2008, statistical snapshot of Manatee largely mirrored Florida, which has steadily become more ethnically and racially diverse, demographers said.

MANATEE — Growth has come to a near standstill in Manatee County.

The county’s population rose by just 0.5 percent from mid-2007 to mid-2008, the smallest annual gain since at least 1970, according to Census figures released today.

An estimated 315,766 people lived in Manatee last July 1, just 1,635 more than a year earlier, the Census said. It’s the second straight year that Manatee’s population has grown by less than 1 percent after several years of growing by at least 2 percent, driven largely by newcomers from other areas.

Non-Hispanic whites are leaving Broward and Palm Beach counties in droves. Meanwhile, the dramatic growth of Hispanics and other minority groups has slowed to a trickle.

The latest U.S. census estimates, released today, show that the number of non-Hispanic whites in Broward County went down by more than 24,000 between 2006 and 2007, single-handedly accounting for the county's drop in total population. In Palm Beach County, that number dropped by more than 9,000.