Broward County Florida   Located in South East Florida

Broward County Cities

Land area (rank): 1,211 square miles (7)
Population 1993 (rank): 1,317,512 (2)
Population density 1993 (rank): 1,088 persons per square mile (2)
Growth 1980-1990 (rank): 23.3% (46)

Physical Characteristics

Broward County is on Florida's southeast coast and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Palm Beach, Dade, Hendry, and Collier counties. The county has 10 square miles of water. The average January temperature is 68.6 degrees F, and the average August temperature is 82.0 degrees F. The average annual rainfall is 65.19 inches.

History

Broward County was established in 1915 from a portion of Dade County and named for Napoleon B. Broward, governor from 1905 to 1909 and a principal proponent of early efforts to drain the Everglades.

Population

Eighty-eight percent of Broward County's population is in incorporated areas. Of the 28 incorporated places those with the greatest populations are Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Coral Springs, followed by Pembroke Pines, Pompano Beach, Plantation, and Sunrise, all of which had populations over 70,000 in 1993. Communities to the west of earlier development on the edge of the Everglades grew rapidly in the 1980s. The population of Coral Springs alone increased by over 50,000. The U.S. Bureau of the Census has designated Broward County as the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood-Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1993, 83% of Broward County's population was white and 17% was nonwhite. In 1990, 8.6% of the population was Hispanic. Of the population increase between 1980 and 1990, 94.0% was due to net migration. The 1992 birth rate for the county was 14.1 live births per 1,000 persons, and the 1992 death rate was 11.6 deaths per 1,000 persons. In 1992 the infant mortality rate was 9.1 per 1,000. The leading causes of death in 1993 were heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Education

Of all 1992 high school graduates, 58.8% planned to continue their education. The 1992 high school graduation rate for the county was 3.6%. In 1990, 76.8% of persons in the county were high school graduates, and 18.8% had completed four or more years of college. Colleges and universities. American Flyers College, Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, Barna College of Health Sciences, Broward Community College, Career City College, Ft. Lauderdale College, Keiser College of Technology, National Education Center-Bauder College Campus, Nova University, Ft. Lauderdale.

Economy

The per capita income for 1993 was $24,700 (6th highest in the state). The median household income in 1989 was $30,571. In 1989, 7.1% of households had incomes below the poverty level. In 1990, 14.1% of personal income in Broward County was derived from transfer payments. In 1992, there were 393 farms in Broward County, totalling 23,735 acres (3% of land in the county). Leading agricultural products include cattle, citrus, and vegetables. In 1991, 1,922,062 pounds of fish and 77,037 pounds of shellfish were landed.

Median value of a single-family home 1990: $91,800
Median monthly rent 1990: $497
Mobile homes as a % of total housing 1990: 4.4
Housing starts 1992: 8,317
Housing starts 1993: 10,622

In 1992 the price level index for Broward County was 104.73 (3rd highest in the state).

Local Government

Broward County is a charter county. In 1993, the ad valorem millage rate was 7.3867, and the total taxable value of property was $49,927,896,092. Taxable sales totalled $14133.20 million in 1992 and $15495.40 million in 1993. Lottery sales totalled $225,594 thousand in 1992-93. In 1990-91 Broward County's revenues totalled $1,137,750 thousand ($890.0 per capita) and its expenditures $1,168,714 thousand ($914.2 per capita). Of those 18 years of age and older, 65.9% were registered to vote in 1992. Of these, 54.0% were registered Democrat and 34.5% were registered Republican. In the 1992 presidential election, 51.8% of the votes were cast for Clinton, 30.9% for Bush, and 17.1% for Perot.

Events and Places of Interest

Summer Fest, Pompano Beach, June; Hollywood Jazz Festival, October; Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival, November; Sunshine State Rodeo, Davie, November; Discovery Center, Ocean World, Museum of Archeology, Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale; Atlantis, Hollywood; Butterfly World, Coconut Creek.