Palm Beach County Florida   Located in South East Florida

Palm Beach County Cities

Land area (rank): 1,993 square miles (2)
Population 1993 (rank): 918,223 (3)
Population density 1993 (rank): 461 persons per square mile (9)
Growth 1980-1990 (rank): 49.7% (16)

Physical Characteristics

Palm Beach County is on Florida's Atlantic coast, north of Ft. Lauderdale, and is bordered by Broward, Hendry, and Martin counties. The county has 236 square miles of water. The average January temperature is 67.2 degrees F, and the average August temperature is 81.7 degrees F. The average annual rainfall is 59.44 inches.

History

Palm Beach County was established in 1909 from a portion of Dade County and named for the coconut palms that lined the Atlantic ocean beach.

Population

Palm Beach County has 37 incorporated places ranging in size from West Palm Beach, with a 1993 population of 68,006, to Cloud Lake, with a 1993 population of 121. Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and Delray Beach all grew rapidly in the 1970s and had populations in excess of 40,000 in 1993. Greenacres City increased from a population of 1,731 in 1970 to 22,385 in 1993. About half of the population was in unincorporated areas in 1993. Wellington, Boca Del Mar, and Hamptons at Boca Raton were the fastest growing unincorporated areas in the 1980s. The U.S. Bureau of the Census has designated Palm Beach County as the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1993, 86% of Palm Beach County's population was white and 14% was nonwhite. In 1990, 7.7% of the population was Hispanic. Of the population increase between 1980 and 1990, 95.6% was due to net migration. The 1992 birth rate was 13.5 live births per 1,000 persons, and the 1992 death rate was 11.8 deaths per 1,000 persons. In 1992 the infant mortality rate was 9.25 per 1,000. The leading causes of death in 1993 were heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Education

Of all 1992 high school graduates, 82.7% planned to continue their education. The 1992 high school dropout rate was 4.1%. In 1990, 78.8% of persons in the county were high school graduates, and 22.1% had completed four or more years of college. Colleges and universities. Palm Beach Community College; St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach; Florida Atlantic University, Harid Conservatory of Music, Lynn University, New York Institute of Technology Center, Boca Raton; Northwood University-Florida Education Center, Palm Beach Atlantic College, South College-Palm Beach Campus.

Economy

The per capita income for 1993 was $30,125 (2nd highest in the state). The median household income in 1989 was $32,524. In 1989, 6.2% of families had incomes below the poverty level. In 1990, 12.1% of personal income was derived from transfer payments. The employers of the greatest numbers of people in the services sector were health and business services. Electrical equipment and supplies and printing and publishing firms employed the most people in the manufacturing sector. In 1992 there were 924 farms in Palm Beach County, totalling 637,934 acres (50% of land in the county). Palm Beach County is a major producer of sugarcane and nursery products as well as vegetables. In 1991, 1,202,223 pounds of fish and 29,005 pounds of shellfish were landed.

Median value of a single-family home 1990: $98,400
Median monthly rent 1990: $499
Mobile homes as a % of total housing: 4.7
Housing starts 1992: 7,935
Housing starts 1993: 8,533

In 1992 the price level index for Palm Beach County was 102.94 (4th highest in the state).

Local Government

Palm Beach is a charter county. In 1993, the ad valorem millage rate was 4.3278, and the total taxable value of property was $51,358,970,145. Taxable sales totalled $9793.10 million in 1992 and $10541.30 million in 1993. Lottery sales totalled $138,584 thousand in 1992-93. In 1990-91 Palm Beach County's revenues totalled $1,061,051 thousand ($1,201.6 per capita) and its expenditures $1,194,616 thousand ($1,352.8 per capita). Of those 18 years of age and older, 67.6% were registered to vote in 1992. Of these, 48.0% were registered Democrat and 40.3% were registered Republican. In the 1992 presidential election 46.4% of the votes were cast for Clinton, 34.6% for Bush, and 18.8% for Perot.

Events and Places of Interest

Black Gold Jubilee, Belle Glade, April; Mizner Festival, Boca Raton, April; Fourth on Flagler, West Palm Beach, July; Boca Festival Days, August; Hispanic Cultural Arts Festival and Fair, West Palm Beach; Great American Love Affair, Boynton Beach, March; Dreher Park Zoo, West Palm Beach; Henry Flagler Museum, Palm Beach; Lion Country Safari, West Palm Beach; Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach.