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Broward County, Florida
Ft Lauderdale Skyline.jpg
Hollywood Beach bikers.jpg
Florida-Hollywood-Water Tank.jpg
Tarpon River Neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, Florida .jpg
Dania Beach, FL, USA - panoramio (2).jpg
Las Olas Beach.jpg
Sawgrass Mills 180133.jpg
BB&T Center (Sunrise).JPG
Pompano Beach, FL, USA - panoramio (11).jpg
Images, from top down, left to right: Fort Lauderdale skyline; Hollywood Beach Boardwalk; Hollywood water tower; Tarpon River neighborhood; Dania Beach pier; life guard station on Las Olas Beach; Sawgrass Mills shopping mall in Sunrise; BB&T Center; docked boats in Pompano Beach
Official logo of Broward County, Florida
Map of Florida highlighting Broward County.svg
Broward County, Florida is located in the United States
Broward County, Florida
Broward County, Florida
Location in the United States
Country  United States
State  Florida
Region South Florida
Metro area Miami
Founded April 30, 1915
Named for Napoleon B. Broward
County seat Fort Lauderdale
Largest city Fort Lauderdale (population, total area)
Davie (land area)
Incorporated cities 24
Government
 • Type Council–manager government
 • Body Board of County Commissioners
Area
 • Total 1,322.817 sq mi (3,426.08 km2)
 • Land 1,203.105 sq mi (3,116.03 km2)
 • Water 119.712 sq mi (310.05 km2)
Highest elevation
29 ft (9 m)
Lowest elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 1,944,375
 • Density 1,469.8745/sq mi (567.5217/km2)
Time zone UTC−5 (Eastern Time Zone)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−4 (Eastern Daylight Time)
ZIP Codes
33004, 33009, 33019–33021,33023–33029, 33060, 33062–33069, 33071, 33073, 33076, 33301, 33304–33306, 33308–33317, 33319, 33321–33328, 33330–33332, 33334, 33351, 33441–33442
Area codes 754/954,
FIPS code 12011
GNIS feature ID 295753
Primary airport Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport
FLL (major/international)
Secondary airport Miami International Airport-
MIA (international/neighboring county)-
Palm Beach International Airport-
PBI (international/neighboring county)-
North Perry Airport-
HWO (regional)-
Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport-
FXE (regional)-
Pompano Beach Airpark-
PMP (regional)
Interstates I-75.svg I-95.svg I-595.svg
U.S. Routes US 1.svg US 27.svg US 441.svg
State roads Florida's Turnpike shield.svg Florida A1A.svg Florida 5.svg Florida 7.svg Florida 9.svg Florida 25.svg Florida 84.svg Florida 93.svg Florida 736.svg Florida 810.svg Florida 811.svg Florida 814.svg Florida 816.svg Florida 817.svg Florida 818.svg Florida 820.svg Florida 822.svg Florida 823.svg Florida 824.svg Florida 838.svg Florida 842.svg Florida 845.svg Florida 848.svg Florida 849.svg Florida 852.svg Florida 858.svg Florida 862.svg Florida 869.svg Florida 870.svg
Commuter rail Amtrak, Brightline, Tri-Rail

Broward County is a county located in Southeast Florida. It is the second-most populous county in the state of Florida and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 million inhabitants as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Fort Lauderdale, which had over 180,000 people in 2020.

Broward County is one of the three counties that make up the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6.14 million people in 2020. It’s also one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the entire country.

The county has 31 municipalities (including 24 incorporated cities) and many unincorporated areas. It’s also Florida's seventh-largest county in terms of land area, with 1,322.8 square miles (3,426 km2). Broward County's urbanized area occupies 427.8 square miles of land. The largest portion of the county is the Conservation Area that extends to the county's Western border. The conservation area is 796.9 square miles and consists of wetlands. At its widest points, the County stretches approximately 50.3 miles east to west and approximately 27.4 miles from north to south, averaging 5 to 25 feet in elevation.

History

Although the area has been settled since about 1400 B.C., Broward County was founded on October 1, 1915. It was named for Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Governor of Florida from 1905 to 1909, remembered for his campaign to turn the Everglades into "useful land". It was originally intended to be named Everglades County, but then-Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Ion Farris amended the bill that established the county to be named after Broward. In 1915, Palm Beach County and Dade County contributed nearly equal portions of land to create Broward County.

Broward County began a huge development boom after its incorporation, with the first "tourist hotel", in Fort Lauderdale, opening in 1919. A year later, developers began dredging wetlands in the county in order to create island communities. By 1925, the boom was considered to have reached its peak, but a 1926 hurricane caused economic depression in the county. The structure of county government was signed into law in 1975 with the passage of the Broward County charter.

At its inception, Broward County was considered a leader in agricultural products and services within the State of Florida .

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,323 square miles (3,430 km2), of which 1,210 square miles (3,100 km2) is land and 113 square miles (290 km2) (8.5%) is water.

Broward County has an average elevation of six feet (1.8 m) above sea level. It is rather new geologically and located at the eastern edge of the Florida Platform, a carbonate plateau created millions of years ago. Broward County is composed of Oolite limestone while western Broward is composed mostly of Bryozoa. Broward is among the last areas of Florida to be created and populated with fauna and flora, mostly in the Pleistocene.

Of developable land in Broward County, approximately 471 square miles (1,219.9 km2), the majority is built upon, as the urban area is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Everglades Wildlife Management Area to the west. Within developable land, Broward County has a population density of 3,740 per square mile (1,444 per square kilometer).

Broward approved the construction of Osborne Reef, an artificial reef made of tires off the Fort Lauderdale beach, but it has proven an environmental disaster.

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1920 5,135
1930 20,094 291.3%
1940 39,794 98.0%
1950 83,933 110.9%
1960 333,946 297.9%
1970 620,100 85.7%
1980 1,018,200 64.2%
1990 1,255,488 23.3%
2000 1,623,018 29.3%
2010 1,748,066 7.7%
2020 1,944,375 11.2%
U.S. Decennial Census
Race and Hispanic Origin in Broward County as of the 2020 census
Race and Ethnicity Percentage of population Raw Number
Non-Hispanic 68.69 68.69
 
1,335,672
White Alone 33.13 33.13
 
644,230
Black Alone 26.62 26.62
 
517,618
Asian Alone 3.81 3.81
 
74,040
Native American Alone 0.15 0.15
 
2,917
Pacific Islander Alone 0.04 0.04
 
696
Some Other Race Alone 1.10 1.1
 
21,389
Two or More Races 3.85 3.85
 
74,782
Hispanic or Latino 31.31 31.31
 
608,703
Total Population 100.0 100
 
1,944,375

2015 5-Year American Community Survey

Fort Lauderdale Skyline 7
City skyline, featuring Las Olas River House (center), 110 Tower (far right), and Bank of America Plaza (far left)
Fort-lauderdale-man-of-steel
A yacht in Fort Lauderdale's harbor

Households and families

As of the 2015 5-year ACS, Broward County had 1,843,152 people, 670,284 households, and 425,680 families. Of the 670,284 households in Broward County, 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.43.

Age

In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.7 males.

Race, ancestry and nationality

The racial makeup of the county was 62.3% White, 30% Black or African American, 17.1% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 5.07% Asian, 2.20% from two or more races, 0.66% Native American, 0.16% Pacific Islander, and 0.20% from some other race. The racial makeup of the total Hispanic and Latino population in Broward County was: 65.8% White, 5.90% Native American, 2.06% Black or African American, 0.33% Asian, 0.86% Pacific Islander, 26.23% were some other race and 4.57% were from two or more races. In 2015, with relation to ancestry (excluding the various Hispanic and Latino ancestries), 7.38% were Italian, 7.70% American, 6.44% German, 6.54% Irish, 3.8% English, 2.6% Polish and 2.2% Russian ancestry. Also, among West Indians, 6.33% were Haitian and 5.96% were Jamaican. In 2015, 32.2% of the county's population was foreign born, with 18.14% being naturalized American citizens. Of foreign born residents, 78.9% were born in Latin America, 7.88% were born in Europe, 8.52% born in Asia, 3.11% in North America, 1.34% born in Africa and 0.15 were born in Oceania.

Income

As of the 2015 5-year ACS, the median income for a household in the county was $51,968, and the median income for a family was $61,809. Of full-time workers, males had a median income of $46,372 versus $39,690 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,381. About 11.2% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.9% of those under the age 18 and 12.6% of those aged 65 or over.

2010 Census

U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Ethnic/Race Demographics:

  • White (non-Hispanic) : 42.5% (8.7% Irish, 8.2% Italian, 7.9% German, 5.0% English, 3.2% Polish, 2.7% Russian, 1.9% French, 1.0% Scottish, 0.8% Dutch, 0.8% Scotch-Irish, 0.8% Hungarian, 0.6% Swedish, 0.6% French Canadian, 0.5% Greek) (63.1% when including White Hispanics)
  • Black (non-Hispanic) (26.7% when including Black Hispanics): 17.7% (12.8% West Indian/Afro-Caribbean American [5.7% Haitian, 5.3% Jamaican, 0.4% Trinidadian and Tobagonian, 0.4% Other or Unspecified West Indian, 0.3% Bahamian, 0.2% British West Indian, 0.1% Barbadian, and 0.8% Subsaharan African)
  • Hispanic or Latino of any race: 26.9% (4.8% Cuban, 4.3% Puerto Rican, 3.8% Colombian, 1.7% Mexican, 1.6% Dominican, 1.4% Peruvian, 1.3% Venezuelan, 0.7% Ecuadoran, 0.7% Honduran, 0.6% Argentinean, 0.5% Nicaraguan, 0.5% Salvadoran)
  • Asian: 3.2% (1.2% South Asian including Indians, Indo-Caribbeans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and Nepalese, 0.6% Chinese (Han Chinese and Chinese Americans), including Chinese Caribbeans and Taiwanese Americans, 0.5% Other Asian, 0.4% Filipino, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.1% Japanese, 0.1% Korean)
  • Two or more races: 2.9%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.3%
  • Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
  • Other Races: 3.7% (0.7% Arab)

In 2010, 4.7% of the population considered themselves to be of only "American" ancestry (regardless of race or ethnicity.)

As of 2010, Haitians made up the largest population of immigrants, with Jamaicans coming in second, Colombians in third, followed by Cuban exiled refugees in fourth place, then Peruvians, Venezuelans, Brazilians, Dominicans, Canadians, and Mexicans being the tenth highest group of expatriates. The county also houses many British, French, German, and Spanish expatriates.

There were 810,388 households, out of which 28.61% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.80% were married couples living together, 15.28% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.67% were non-families. 28.79% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.07% (3.31% male and 7.76% female) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.14.

The age distribution is 22.4% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $51,694, and the median income for a family was $62,619. Males had a median income of $44,935 versus $36,813 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,631. About 9.1% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.2% of those under age 18 and 12.2% of those aged 65 or over.

In 2010, 30.9% of the county's population was foreign born, with 49.2% being naturalized American citizens. Of foreign born residents, 77.4% were born in Latin America, 9.0% were born in Europe, 8.4% born in Asia, 3.5% in North America, 1.6% born in Africa, and 0.1% were born in Oceania.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Broward County is the 9th largest county with same sex households. As of the 2010 Census, there were 9,125 same sex households out of a total of 686,047 households (1.33%).

Languages

As of 2010, 63.44% of all residents spoke English as their first language, while 22.22% spoke Spanish, 5.42% French Creole (mostly Haitian Creole), 1.48% Portuguese, 1.41% French, and 0.59% of the population spoke Italian as their mother language. In total, 36.56% of the population spoke languages other than English as their primary language. Since many immigrants are coming from the Anglophone Caribbean, where English is spoken, the change is not as fast as the rate of immigration would suggest.

Community services

Community services in Broward County include Women in Distress (WID), a nationally accredited, state-certified, full service domestic violence center. WID works in partnership with the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Transportation

Airports

Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport serves as the primary airport of the Broward County area. The airport is bounded by the cities Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach, three miles (5 km) southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale and 21 mi (34 km) north of Miami. The airport is near cruise line terminals at Port Everglades and is popular among tourists bound for the Caribbean. Since the late 1990s, FLL has become an intercontinental gateway, although Miami International Airport still handles most long-haul flights. FLL is ranked as the 19th busiest airport (in terms of passenger traffic) in the United States, as well as the nation's 14th busiest international air gateway and one of the world's 50 busiest airports. FLL is classified by the US Federal Aviation Administration as a "major hub" facility serving commercial air traffic. In 2017 the airport processed 32,511,053 passengers (11.3% more than 2016) including 7,183,275 international passengers (18.6% more than 2016).

  • North Perry Airport
  • Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
  • Pompano Beach Airpark
  • Downtown Fort Lauderdale Heliport
BCTBus
A Broward County Transit bus in the current "Breeze" livery.

Public transportation

Major expressways

Lauderdale from tri rail
Interstate 95 as it passes through Fort Lauderdale. The city's skyline can be seen in the background.
  • I-95.svg Interstate 95
  • I-75.svg Interstate 75
  • I-595.svg Interstate 595 (Port Everglades Expressway)
  • Florida's Turnpike shield.svg Florida's Turnpike (SR 91)
  • Florida's Turnpike shield.svg Homestead Extension (SR 821)
  • Toll Florida 869.svg State Road 869 (Sawgrass Expressway)

Railroads

  • Amtrak, Brightline and Tri-Rail run through Broward.

Street grid

A street grid stretches throughout Broward County. Most of this grid is loosely based on three primary eastern municipalities, (from South to North) Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach. Deerfield Beach—another primary eastern municipality—has its own street grid, as do two smaller municipalities—Dania and Hallandale.

Greenways System

Construction is underway on a network of recreational trails to connect cities and points of interest in the county.

Communities

Map of Broward County Florida.svg

Municipality populations are based on the 2010 Census.

# Incorporated Community Designation Date incorporated Population
2 Coconut Creek City February 20, 1967 52,909
26 Cooper City City June 20, 1959 28,547
4 Coral Springs City July 10, 1963 121,096
23 Dania Beach City November 30, 1904 29,639
22 Davie Town November 16, 1925 91,992
3 Deerfield Beach City June 11, 1925 75,018
16 Fort Lauderdale City March 27, 1911 165,521
31 Hallandale Beach City May 11, 1927 37,113
8 Hillsboro Beach Town June 12, 1939 1,875
24 Hollywood City November 28, 1925 140,768
11 Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Town November 30, 1927 6,056
17 Lauderdale Lakes City June 22, 1961 32,593
18 Lauderhill City June 20, 1959 66,887
15 Lazy Lake Village June 3, 1953 24
7 Lighthouse Point City June 13, 1956 10,344
5 Margate City May 30, 1955 53,284
28 Miramar City May 26, 1955 122,041
10 North Lauderdale City July 10, 1963 41,023
13 Oakland Park City June 10, 1929 41,363
1 Parkland City July 10, 1963 23,962
30 Pembroke Park Town October 10, 1957 6,102
27 Pembroke Pines City March 2, 1959 154,750
20 Plantation City April 30, 1953 84,955
6 Pompano Beach City June 6, 1908 99,845
12 Sea Ranch Lakes Village October 6, 1959 670
25 Southwest Ranches Town June 6, 2000 7,345
19 Sunrise City June 22, 1961 84,439
9 Tamarac City August 15, 1963 60,427
29 West Park City March 1, 2005 14,156
21 Weston City September 3, 1996 65,333
14 Wilton Manors City May 13, 1947 11,632

Formerly unincorporated neighborhoods

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated areas

  • Andytown
  • Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

Points of interest

Broward boasts some notable attractions. The Museum of Discovery and Science is located in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The International Swimming Hall of Fame is located near the Atlantic Ocean, also in Fort Lauderdale. The International Game Fish Association, including the Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, is located in Dania Beach. Flamingo Gardens is a botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary. Butterfly World, another botanical sanctuary, is located in Coconut Creek. Sawgrass Mills, a large outlet shopping mall, is located in Sunrise. Also, the NHL's Florida Panthers play their games at the BB&T Center in Sunrise. There are also multiple entrances to Everglades parks. In Pompano Beach is the Festival Flea Market Mall, America's largest indoor flea market. The African-American Research Library & Cultural Center off of Sistrunk Avenue in Fort Lauderdale boasts more than 75,000 books and materials on the experiences of people of African descent in the Caribbean, Central and South America and the United States. Other destinations of note are the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop (colloquially known to locals as simply the Swap Shop), Riverwalk (Fort Lauderdale), and Beach Place, a strip of stores, restaurants, and bars situated across the street from the beach along the Atlantic coast in Ft. Lauderdale.

With 23 miles of beach, Broward County is a popular destination for scuba diving, snorkeling, and droves of young Spring break tourists from around the world.

Economy

Silver Airways has its headquarters on the property of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in an unincorporated area. Other companies with headquarters in unincorporated areas include Locair.

Spirit Airlines has its headquarters in Miramar.

When Chalk's International Airlines existed, its headquarters was on the grounds of the airport in an unincorporated area. When Bimini Island Air existed, its headquarters were in an unincorporated area.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

BCC South Campus - panoramio
Broward College South Campus administration building

Broward County Schools has the sixth largest school district in the country and the second largest in the state after the Miami-Dade district.

Regionally accredited colleges and universities

  • Broward College
  • Florida Atlantic University (Branch campuses)
  • Nova Southeastern University
  • Keiser University

Other adult education providers

  • DeVry University
  • University of Phoenix
  • The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
  • Florida Career College
  • Brown Mackie College
  • Atlantic Technical Center and Technical High School
  • McFatter Technical College and Technical High School
  • Sheridan Technical College and Technical High School

Public libraries

The Broward County Library is one of the largest public library systems in the country, comprising 38 branch locations. There are also five municipal public libraries in the county that are not part of the Broward County Library system: Ethel M. Gordon Oakland Park Library, Lighthouse Point Library, Helen B. Hoffman Plantation Library, Richard C. Sullivan Public Library of Wilton Manors, and Parkland Public Library.

Library Resources

Broward County libraries provide endless amount of resources to the public. For high-schoolers looking to prepare themselves for college, the library offers college readiness & SAT/ACT prep courses. For adults looking to learn computer skills, adult computer classes are also offered. These resources are free of cost, therefore, all it takes is registering to participate. In addition to the many resources offered at the library, bus passes are also sold at most Broward County libraries. If you want to enjoy some of these resources, you can simply download the app to utilize them on the go. There are nine apps available for download: Broward County Library (BCL WoW), Freegal Music, Hoopla, Overdrive, Libby, Axis 360, RBdigital Magazines, Rosetta Stone, and Brainfuse.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Condado de Broward para niños

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