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Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
in
South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populous city in Florida and the eleventh-most populous city in the Southeastern United States. The
Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a ...
is the ninth largest in the U.S. with a population of 6.138 million in 2020. The city has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 58 of which exceed . Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade. Miami's metropolitan area is by far the largest urban economy in Florida and the 12th largest in the U.S., with a GDP of $344.9 billion as of 2017. According to a 2018
UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
study of 77 world cities, Miami is the second richest city in the U.S. and third richest globally in purchasing power. Miami is a majority-minority city with a Hispanic population of 310,472, or 70.2 percent of the city's population, as of 2020. Downtown Miami has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the U.S. and is home to many large national and international companies. The Health District is home to several major University of Miami-affiliated hospital and health facilities, including Jackson Memorial Hospital, the nation's largest hospital with 1,547 beds, and the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, the University of Miami's academic medical center and teaching hospital, and others engaged in health-related care and research.
PortMiami The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
, the city's seaport, is the busiest
cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
port in the world in both passenger traffic and cruise lines. Miami is the second largest tourism hub for international visitors, after New York City. Miami has sometimes been called the Gateway to Latin America because of the magnitude of its commercial and cultural ties to the region. In 2019, Miami ranked seventh in the U.S. in business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.


Toponymy

Miami was named in 1896 after the Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee and the Native Americans who lived around it.


History

The Tequesta tribe occupied the Miami area for around 2,000 years before contact with Europeans. A village of hundreds of people, dating to 500–600 BCE, was located at the mouth of the Miami River. It is believed that the entire tribe migrated to Cuba by the mid-1700s.


Settlement

In 1566, admiral
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceani ...
, Florida's first governor, claimed the area for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later. Spain and Britain successively ruled Florida until Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the U.S. built Fort Dallas on the banks of the Miami River as part of their development of the Florida Territory and their attempt to suppress and remove the Seminoles. As a result, the Miami area became a site of fighting in the
Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and ...
.


Founding

Miami is noted as the only major city in the United States founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native, was the original owner of the land upon which the city was built. In the late 19th century, the area was known as "Biscayne Bay Country", and reports described it as a promising wilderness and "one of the finest building sites in Florida". The Great Freeze of 1894–1895 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops there were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced railroad tycoon
Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...
to extend his
Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pr ...
to the region, for which she became known as "the mother of Miami". Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300. African American labor played a crucial role in Miami's early development.


20th century

During the early 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population. Despite their role in the city's growth, their community was limited to a small space. When landlords began to rent homes to African-Americans around Avenue J (what would later become NW Fifth Avenue), a gang of white men with torches marched through the neighborhood and warned the residents to move or be bombed. Miami prospered during the 1920s with an increase in population and development in infrastructure as northerners moved to the city. The legacy of
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
was embedded in these developments. Miami's chief of police at the time, H. Leslie Quigg, did not hide the fact that he, like many other white Miami police officers, was a member of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
. Unsurprisingly, these officers enforced social codes far beyond the written law. Quigg, for example, "personally and publicly beat a colored bellboy to death for speaking directly to a white woman". The collapse of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the
1926 Miami Hurricane The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 mill ...
, and the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
in the 1930s slowed development. When World War II began, Miami became a base for U.S. defense against
German submarines U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
due to its prime location on the southern coast of Florida. This brought an increase in Miami's population; 172,172 people lived in the city by 1940. The city's nickname, ''The Magic City'', came from its rapid growth, which was noticed by winter visitors who remarked that the city grew so much from one year to the next that it was like magic. After
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
rose to power in Cuba following the Revolution in 1959, many wealthy Cubans sought refuge in Miami, further increasing the city's population. Miami developed new businesses and cultural amenities as part of the New South in the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, South Florida weathered social problems related to drug wars, immigration from
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
and Latin America, and the widespread destruction of
Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged ...
. Racial and cultural tensions sometimes sparked, but the city developed in the latter half of the 20th century as a major international, financial, and cultural center. It is the second-largest U.S. city with a Spanish-speaking majority (after El Paso, Texas), and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.U.S. Census, 2010 (Ethnicity) and Census American Community Survey 2008 (language).


Geography

Miami and its suburbs are located on a broad plain between the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
to the west and Biscayne Bay to the east, which extends from Lake Okeechobee southward to Florida Bay. The elevation of the area averages at around above sea level in most neighborhoods, especially near the coast. The highest points are found along the
Miami Rock Ridge The Miami Rock Ridge is a continuous limestone outcrop which formerly encompassed a large extent of far South Florida, including portions of the Everglades ecosystem. The traditional base of the elevation ranges from northern Miami-Dade County, Fl ...
, which lies under most of the eastern Miami metro. The main portion of the city is on the shores of Biscayne Bay, which contains several hundred natural and artificial barrier islands, the largest of which contains
Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...
and
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
. The
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
, a warm ocean current, runs northward just off the coast, allowing the city's climate to stay warm and mild all year.


Geology

The surface bedrock under the Miami area is called Miami oolite or Miami limestone. This bedrock is covered by a thin layer of soil, and is no more than thick. Miami limestone formed as the result of the drastic changes in sea level associated with recent glacial periods, or ice ages. Beginning some 130,000 years ago, the Sangamonian Stage raised sea levels to approximately above the current level. All of southern Florida was covered by a shallow sea. Several parallel lines of reef formed along the edge of the submerged Florida plateau, stretching from the present Miami area to what is now the Dry Tortugas. The area behind this reef line was, in fact, a large lagoon, and the Miami limestone formed throughout the area from the deposition of oolites and the shells of bryozoans. Starting about 100,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation began lowering sea levels, exposing the floor of the lagoon. By 15,000 years ago, the sea level had dropped below the current level. The sea level rose quickly after that, stabilizing at the current level about 4,000 years ago, leaving the mainland of South Florida just
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...
. Beneath the plain lies the Biscayne Aquifer, a natural underground source of fresh water that extends from southern Palm Beach County to Florida Bay. It comes closest to the surface around the cities of
Miami Springs Miami Springs is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city was founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss, "The Father of Naval Aviation", and James Bright, during the famous "land boom" of the 1920s and was originally named Country Club Estate ...
and Hialeah. Most of the
Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a ...
obtains its drinking water from the Biscayne Aquifer. As a result of the aquifer, it is not possible to dig more than beneath the city without hitting water, which impedes underground construction, though some underground parking garages exist. For this reason, the
mass transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
systems in and around Miami are elevated or at-grade. Most of the western fringes of the city border the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
, a tropical marshland covering most of the southern portion of Florida. Alligators that live in the marshes have ventured into Miami communities and onto major highways.


Cityscape


Neighborhoods

Miami is split roughly into north, south, west, and Downtown areas. The heart of the city is Downtown Miami, which is on the eastern side and includes the neighborhoods of Brickell, Virginia Key,
Watson Island Watson Island is a neighborhood and man-made island in Biscayne Bay, in Miami, Florida. It is located Immediately east of the Central Business District and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods of downtown Miami and is connected to the ma ...
, as well as
PortMiami The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
. Downtown Miami is Florida's largest and most influential central business district, with many major banks, courthouses, financial headquarters, cultural and tourist attractions, schools, parks, and a large residential population. Brickell Avenue has the largest concentration of international banks in the United States. Just northwest of Downtown is the Health District, which is Miami's center for hospitals,
research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
s and biotechnology, with hospitals such as Jackson Memorial Hospital, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. The southern side of Miami includes the neighborhoods of Coral Way, The Roads, and Coconut Grove. Coral Way is a historic residential neighborhood built in 1922 between Downtown and
Coral Gables Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the U ...
, and is home to many old homes and tree-lined streets. Coconut Grove, established in 1825, is a historic neighborhood with narrow, winding roads and a heavy tree canopy. It is the location of Miami's City Hall at Dinner Key, the former Coconut Grove Playhouse, CocoWalk, and the
Coconut Grove Convention Center The Coconut Grove Convention Center (formerly the Dinner Key Auditorium, also known as the Coconut Grove Expo Center), was an indoor arena and exhibition hall in Miami, Florida. It originally had been built as a hangar at International Pan Americ ...
. It is also home to many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and bohemian shops, which makes it very popular with local college students. Coconut Grove is known for its many parks and gardens, such as Vizcaya Museum,
The Kampong The Kampong is open by advance reservation to visitors Tuesday through Friday and is a 9-acre botanical garden in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. It is one of the five gardens of the non-profit National Tropical Bo ...
,
The Barnacle Historic State Park The Barnacle Historic State Park is a Florida State Parks, Florida State Park in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida at 3485 Main Highway. Built in 1891, it is the oldest house in its original location in Miami-Dade County. The Bar ...
, and numerous other historic homes and estates. The western side of Miami includes the neighborhoods of Little Havana, West Flagler, and Flagami. Although at one time a mostly Jewish neighborhood, today western Miami is home to immigrants from mostly Central America and Cuba, while the west central neighborhood of Allapattah is a multicultural community of many ethnicities. The northern side of Miami includes Midtown, a district with a great mix of diversity ranging from West Indians to Hispanics to European Americans. The Edgewater neighborhood of Midtown is mostly composed of high-rise residential towers and is home to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Wynwood is an art district with ten galleries in former warehouses, as well as a large outdoor mural project. The wealthier residents of Miami usually live in the Design District and the Upper Eastside, which has many 1920s homes as well as examples of Miami Modern architecture in the MiMo Historic District. The northern side of Miami also has notable African-American and
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
immigrant communities, including Little Haiti, Overtown (home of the Lyric Theater), and Liberty City.


Climate

Miami has a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen climate classification ''Am'') with hot and wet summers and warm and dry winters. The city's sea-level elevation, coastal location, position just above the Tropic of Cancer, and proximity to the
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
shape its climate. Average winter high temperatures, from December to March, range from . January is the coolest month with an average daily temperature of . Low temperatures fall below about 3 to 4 nights during the winter season, after the passage of cold fronts that produce what little rainfall that falls in the winter. There are two basic seasons in Miami, a hot and wet season from May through October, and a warm and dry season from November through April. During the hot and wet season, daily thundershowers occur in the humid unstable air masses. The wet season in Miami is defined as the period during which the average daily dew point temperature is above . The rainy season typically begins on the first day that occurs, or within a few days later. Similarly, daily rainfall in Miami decreases sharply when the average daily dew point falls to or below, although in some years, a stalled front to the south of the Florida peninsula may cause rains to continue for a few more days. During the years 1956 to 1997, the date summer began ranged from April 16 to June 3, with a median date of May 21. During those same years, the date summer ended ranged from September 24 to November 1, with a median date of October 17. During the summer, temperatures range from the mid-80s to low 90s °F (29–35 °C) and are accompanied by high humidity, though the heat is often relieved in the afternoon by thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the year's of rainfall occurs during this period. Dew points in the warm months range from in June to in August. Extremes range from on February 3, 1917, to on July 21, 1942. While Miami has never recorded snowfall at any official weather station since records have been kept, snow flurries fell in some parts of the city on January 19, 1977. The coldest daytime maximum temperature on record is in 1989, while the coldest maximum temperature average between 1991 and 2020 stood at . The warmest overnight low measured is on several occasions. The stability of summer overnight lows is underlined by the mean maximum annual overnight low is just one degree lower. Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, although hurricanes can develop beyond those dates. The most likely time for Miami to be hit is during the peak of the
Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...
season, which is mid-August through the end of September. Although tornadoes are uncommon in the area, one struck in 1925 and another in 1997. Around 40% of homes in Miami are built upon floodplains and are considered as flood-risk zones. Miami falls under the Department of Agriculture's 10b/11a plant
hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
. Miami is one of the major coastal cities and major cities in the United States that will be most affected by climate change. Globally, it is one of the most at-risk cities as well, according to a 2020 report by Resources for the Future. Global sea level rise, which in Miami is projected to be to by 2070, will lead to an increase in storm damage, more intense flooding, and will threaten the city's water supply. Other potential impacts of climate change include higher hurricane wind speeds and severe thunderstorms, which can bring about hail or tornadoes. Some protective efforts are in place, including nourishing beaches and adding protective barriers, raising buildings and roads that are vulnerable, and restoring natural habitats such as wetlands. Miami Beach has invested $500 million to protect roads, buildings, and water systems. Real estate prices in Miami already reflect the increase in prices for real estate at a higher elevation within the city compared to real estate at a lower elevation.


Demographics

The city is home to less than one-thirteenth of the population of
South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
. Miami is the 44th most populous city in the United States. The
Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a ...
, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, has a population of 6.1 million people, ranking eighth in the United States. In 1960, people of Hispanic origin made up about 5% of the population of Miami-Dade County. Between 1960 and 2000, Hispanics accounted for 90% of the population growth in the county, and their share of the county's population grew to more than 57% by 2000. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Miami's population as 45% Hispanic, 41.7% non-Hispanic white, and 22.7% black. Miami's explosive population growth has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country, primarily up until the 1980s, as well as by immigration, primarily from the 1960s to the 1990s. Today, immigration to Miami has continued and Miami's growth today is attributed greatly to its fast urbanization and high-rise construction, which has increased its inner city neighborhood population densities, such as in Downtown, Brickell, and Edgewater, where one area in Downtown alone saw a 2,069% increase in population in the 2010 Census. Miami is regarded as more of a multicultural mosaic, than it is a
melting pot The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throug ...
, with residents still maintaining much of, or some of their cultural traits. The overall culture of Miami is heavily influenced by its large population from the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and South America.


Culture

Miami has a minority-majority population, as non-Hispanic whites comprised only 11.5% of the total. As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup of the population of Miami was 65.4% White American (including White Hispanic), 16.0% black or African American, 1.3% Asian American, and the remainder belonged to other groups or was of mixed ancestry. The
2020 US Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
reported that Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 72.5% of Miami's population. In 2010, 34.4% of city residents were of Cuban origin, 15.8% had a Central American background (7.2% Nicaraguan, 5.8% Honduran, 1.2% Salvadoran, and 1.0% Guatemalan), 8.7% were of South American descent (3.2% Colombian, 1.4%
Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, 1.2% Peruvian, 1.2%
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
, 1.0% Chilean and 0.7% Ecuadorian), 4.0% had other Hispanic or Latino origins (0.5%
Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...
), 3.2% descended from
Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
, 2.4% were Dominican, and 1.5% had Mexican ancestry. , 5.6% of city residents were West Indian or
Afro-Caribbean American Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the ...
origin (4.4% Haitian, 0.4% Jamaican, 0.4% Bahamian, 0.1%
British West Indian The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Gre ...
, and 0.1%
Trinidadian and Tobagonian Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, 0.1% Other or Unspecified West Indian), 3.0% were Black Hispanics, and 0.4% were Subsaharan African origin. , those of (non-Hispanic white) European ancestry accounted for 11.9% of Miami's population. Of the city's total population, 1.7% were German, 1.6% Italian, 1.4% Irish, 1.0% English, 0.8% French, 0.6% Russian, and 0.5% were Polish. Since the 1960s, there has been massive white flight with many non-Hispanic whites moving outside Miami due to the influx of immigrants settling in most parts of Miami. , those of Asian ancestry accounted for 1.0% of Miami's population. Of the city's total population, 0.3% were Indian/
Indo-Caribbean Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are Indian people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji Indian indentured laborers brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th c ...
(1,206 people), 0.3% Chinese/ Chinese Caribbean (1,804 people), 0.2% Filipino (647 people), 0.1% were other Asian (433 people), 0.1% Japanese (245 people), 0.1% Korean (213 people), and 0.0% were Vietnamese (125 people). In 2010, 1.9% of the population considered themselves to be of only American ancestry (regardless of race or ethnicity), while 0.5% were of Arab ancestry, . According to a 2014 study by the
Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
, Christianity is the most-practiced religion in Miami (68%), with 39% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 27% professing Catholicism. Followed by Judaism (9%);
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a variety of other religions have smaller followings;
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
or no self-identifying organized religious affiliation was practiced by 21%. There has been a Norwegian Seamen's church in Miami since the early 1980s. In November 2011, Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit opened a new building for the church. The church was built as a center for the 10,000 Scandinavians that live in Florida. Around 4,000 of them are Norwegian. The church is also an important place for the 150 Norwegians that work at Walt Disney World in Central Florida. , a total of 74.7% of Miami's population age five and over spoke a language other than English at home; 66.3% of Miami residents spoke Spanish at home, 7.1% other Indo-European languages, 0.9% Asian and Pacific Islander languages, and 0.7% other.


Other demographics

As of the
2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, 81.8% of people over age 25 were a high school graduate or higher, while 30.7% had a bachelor's degree or higher. There were 1,074,685 housing units, of which 902,200 were households; 43.7% were married-couple families, 31.2% had a female householder with a family and no spouse, and 18.0% had a male householder with the same. The average family size was 3.3. 20.2% of people were under the age of 18, while 16.9% were over 65. In 2020, 53.6% of the county's population was foreign-born, with 59% being naturalized American citizens. About 14.9% of the population was below the poverty line at the census, including 21.1% of those under age 18 and 20.8% of those aged 65 or over.


Economy

Miami is a major center of commerce and finance and boasts a strong
international business International business refers to the trade of goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale. It involves cross-border transactions of goods and services between two or more ...
community. According to the 2020 ranking of world cities undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) based on the level of presence of global corporate service organizations, Miami is considered a Beta + level world city, along with Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston, however according to the US census between the years 2015–2019, Miami lacks in terms of owner-occupied housing, computer and internet usage, education regarding bachelor's degree or higher, median household income, per capita income, while achieving higher percentage of persons in poverty. Miami has a Gross Metropolitan Product of $257 billion, ranking 11th in the United States and 20th worldwide in GMP. Several large companies are headquartered in Miami, including but not limited to Akerman LLP, Alienware, Arquitectonica, Brightstar Corporation,
Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 19 ...
,
Carnival Corporation Carnival is a Catholic Church, Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgy, liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (o ...
,
Duany Plater-Zyberk DPZ CoDesign (DPZ) (formerly Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. and DPZ Partners) is an architecture and town planning firm based in Miami, Florida, founded in 1980 by the husband-and-wife team of Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The firm is one o ...
, Greenberg Traurig, Inktel Direct, Lennar Corporation,
Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...
, Oceania Cruises, OPKO Health, Parkjockey, RCTV International, Royal Caribbean International, Sitel,
Southern Wine & Spirits Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC is the largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States with operations in 44 states and Washington, D.C. Its portfolio is 45% wine and 55% spirits. It was the 10th largest private company in the ...
, Telemundo, Vector Group, Watsco and World Fuel Services. Over 1,400 multinational firms are located in Miami, with many major global organisations headquartering their Latin American operations (or regional offices) in the city including Walmart. Additionally, companies based in nearby cities or unincorporated areas of
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
include,
Benihana is an American restaurant company founded by Hiroaki Aoki in New York City in 1964 and currently based in Aventura, Florida. It owns or franchises 116 Japanese-influenced restaurants around the world, including its flagship Benihana Teppanya ...
,
Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
, Carnival Cruise Line, Navarro Discount Pharmacies, Perry Ellis International, Ryder,
Sedano's Sedano's Supermarkets is the nation's largest Hispanic retailer and largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain. With headquarters in Miami-Dade County. Sedano's employs approximately 3,000 associates and operates 35 stores across Florida in Miami-D ...
,
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
, and
U.S. Century Bank U.S. Century Blank (NASDAQ: USCB) is a community bank in Miami-Dade County, Florida, with headquarters in the city of Doral. U.S. Century Bank is a Minority Depository Institution (MDI) that provides banking services throughout South Florida. ...
. Miami is a major television production center, and the most important city in the United States for Spanish language media. Telemundo and
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
have their headquarters in the Miami area. Univisión Studios and
Telemundo Studios Telemundo Studios, formerly known as Telemundo Television Studios, is a division of NBCUniversal that develops original programming in Spanish. History After these agreements, Patricio Wills, former president of Telemundo-RTI, pass to be the pers ...
produce much of the original programming for their respective parent networks, such as telenovelas, news, sports, and talk shows. In 2011, 85% of Telemundo's original programming was filmed in Miami. Miami is also a significant music recording center, with the
Sony Music Latin Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is a record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. History In 1979, CBS Records (now Columbia Records) ended its partnership with C ...
headquarters in the city, along with many other smaller record labels. The city also attracts many artists for music video and film shoots. During the mid-2000s, the city witnessed its largest real estate boom since the Florida land boom of the 1920s, and the city had well over a hundred approved high-rise construction projects. However, only 50 were actually built. Rapid high-rise construction led to fast population growth in the Miami's inner neighborhoods, with
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
, Brickell and Edgewater becoming the fastest-growing areas of the city. The city currently has the seven tallest (as well as fifteen of top twenty) skyscrapers in the state of Florida, with the tallest being the Panorama Tower. The housing market crash of 2007 caused a foreclosure crisis in the area. Like other metro areas in the United States, crime in Miami is localized to specific neighborhoods. In a 2016 study by the website ''24/7 Wall Street'', Miami was rated as the worst U.S. city in which to live, based on crime, poverty, income inequality, education, and housing costs that far exceed the national median. Miami International Airport (MIA) and
PortMiami The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
are among the nation's busiest ports of entry, especially for cargo from South America and the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. PortMiami is the world's busiest cruise port, and MIA is the busiest airport in Florida and the largest gateway between the United States and Latin America. Due to its strength in international business, finance and trade, the city has among the largest concentration of international banks in the country, primarily along Brickell Avenue in Brickell, Miami's financial district. Miami was the host city of the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations. Miami is the home to the
National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...
and the headquarters of the United States Southern Command, responsible for military operations in
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and South America. Miami is also an industrial center, especially for stone quarrying and warehousing. These industries are centered largely on the western fringes of the city near Doral and Hialeah. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2012, Miami had the fourth highest percentage of family incomes below the federal poverty line out of all large cities in the United States, behind Detroit, Michigan,
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, and Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively. Miami is also one of the very few cities in the U.S. where the local government has gone bankrupt, in 2001. The Little Fire Ant ('' Wasmannia auropunctata'') is an invasive agricultural pest here.


PortMiami

Miami is home to one of the largest ports in the United States, the
PortMiami The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
. It is the largest cruise ship port in the world, and is often called the "Cruise Capital of the World" and the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas". It has retained its status as the number one cruise/passenger port in the world for well over a decade, accommodating the largest cruise ships and the major cruise lines. In 2017, the port served 5,340,559 cruise passengers. Additionally, the port is one of the nation's busiest cargo ports, importing 9,162,340 tons of cargo in 2017. Among North American ports, it ranks second to New Orleans' Port of South Louisiana in cargo tonnage imported from Latin America. The port sits on and has seven passenger terminals. China is the port's number one import country and number one export country. Miami has the world's largest amount of cruise line headquarters, home to Carnival Cruise Line,
Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 19 ...
,
Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...
, Oceania Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International. In 2014, the Port of Miami Tunnel was opened, connecting the MacArthur Causeway to PortMiami.


Tourism and conventions

Tourism is one of the Miami's largest private-sector industries, accounting for more than 144,800 jobs in
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
. The city's frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. In 2016, it attracted the second-highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States, after New York City, and is among the top 20 cities worldwide by international visitor spending. More than 15.9 million visitors arrived in Miami in 2017, adding $26.1 billion to the economy. With a large hotel infrastructure and the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences. Some of the most popular tourist destinations in Miami include
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
, Lincoln Road, Bayside Marketplace, Downtown Miami, and Brickell City Centre. The Art Deco District in
Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...
is reputed as one of the most glamorous in the world for its nightclubs, beaches, historical buildings, and shopping. Annual events such as the Miami Open, Art Basel, the Winter Music Conference, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, and
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami is an annual fashion week held in Miami, Florida, United States. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami, not to be confused with Miami Fashion Week, is held every year during the Summer at the Raleigh Hotel at 1775 Collin ...
attract millions to the metropolis every year.


Culture

Miami enjoys a vibrant culture that is influenced by a diverse population from all around the world. Miami is known as the "Magic City" for seemingly popping up overnight due to its young age, massive growth, and its aesthetics of neon art deco. The city itself is infamous for its drug war in the early 1980s and its outrun aesthetics. It is also nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America" because of its high population of Spanish-speakers. Miami has been the setting of numerous films and television shows, including '' Miami Vice'', ''
Cocaine Cowboys ''Cocaine Cowboys'' is a 2006 documentary film directed by Billy Corben, and produced by Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben through their Miami-based media studio Rakontur. The film explores the rise of cocaine dealer Jon Roberts, described by pros ...
'', ''
Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, ...
'', '' Jane the Virgin'', ''Scarface'', '' The Birdcage'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', ''
The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...
'', ''
2 Fast 2 Furious ''2 Fast 2 Furious'' is a 2003 action film directed by John Singleton from a screenplay by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, from a story by Brandt, Haas, and Gary Scott Thompson. It is the sequel to ''The Fast and the Furious'' (2001), and is t ...
'', and ''
Dexter Dexter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dexter, the main character of the American animated series ''Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003 * Dexter, a fictional character in the British Diary of a Bad Man#Main, web series ''Diar ...
''. Several video games, including '' Hotline Miami'', the Gameloft racing game '' Asphalt Overdrive'', '' Scarface: The World Is Yours'', and the fictional Vice City in several video games across the '' Grand Theft Auto'' series, most notably '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', is based on Miami.


Entertainment and performing arts

In addition to annual festivals like the
Calle Ocho Festival The Calle Ocho Music Festival (''Festival de la Calle Ocho'') is a one-day fiesta that culminates Carnaval Miami. It takes place in March in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida between SW 12th Avenue and 27th Avenue on SW 8th Street. ...
, Miami is home to many entertainment venues, theaters, museums, parks and performing arts centers. The newest addition to the Miami arts scene is the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, home of the Florida Grand Opera and the second-largest performing arts center in the United States after Lincoln Center in New York City. The center attracts many large-scale operas, ballets, concerts, and musicals from around the world. Other performing arts venues in Miami include the Olympia Theater,
Wertheim Performing Arts Center The Wertheim Performing Arts Center (also known by the abbreviation WPAC, full name The Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center) is a performing arts center that opened in 1996. Situated on the main campus of Florida International Univers ...
, the Fair Expo Center, the Tower Theater, and the Bayfront Park Amphitheater. Another celebrated event is the
Miami International Film Festival The Miami Film Festival (formerly Miami International Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Miami, Florida, that showcases independent American and international films with a special focus on Ibero-American films. The competitive film fest ...
, taking place every year for 10 days around the first week of March, during which independent international and American films are screened across the city. Miami has over a half dozen independent film theaters. Miami attracts a large number of musicians, singers, actors, dancers, and orchestral players. The city has numerous orchestras, symphonies and performing art conservatories. These include the Florida Grand Opera, FIU School of Music, Frost School of Music, and the New World School of the Arts. Miami is also a major fashion center, home to models and some of the top modeling agencies in the world. The city is host to many fashion shows and events, including the annual Miami Fashion Week and the
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami is an annual fashion week held in Miami, Florida, United States. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami, not to be confused with Miami Fashion Week, is held every year during the Summer at the Raleigh Hotel at 1775 Collin ...
, held in the Wynwood Art District. Miami will be having their first boat-in movie theater on Saturday, July 25, 2020.


Museums and visual arts

Some of the museums in Miami include the Frost Art Museum, Frost Museum of Science, HistoryMiami, Institute of Contemporary Art,
Miami Children's Museum The Miami Children’s Museum is a non-profit educational institution located on Watson Island in the city of Miami, Florida. About the museum Founded in 1983, the museum opened its current building on Watson Island to the public on September ...
, Pérez Art Museum, Lowe Art Museum, and the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, a National Historic Landmark set on a 28-acre early 20th century estate in Coconut Grove.


Cuisine

The cuisine of Miami is a reflection of its diverse population, with a heavy influence from
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and Latin American cuisine. By combining the two with American cuisine, it has spawned a unique
South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
style of cooking known as Floribbean cuisine. It is widely available throughout Miami and South Florida and can be found in restaurant chains such as
Pollo Tropical Pollo Tropical (Spanish language, Spanish for "Tropical Chicken") is a South Florida-based restaurant chain and Franchising, franchise specializing in food inspired by Latin-American, Latin-Caribbean cuisine. Founded in 1988, the chain has its h ...
. Cuban immigrants in the 1960s originated the Cuban sandwich and brought medianoche, Cuban espresso, Bistec de palomilla, and
croquetas A croquette is a deep-fried roll consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling, which is breaded and deep-fried; it is served as a side dish, a snack, or fast food worldwide. The binder is typically a thick béchamel or brown sauce, m ...
, all of which have grown in popularity among all Miamians and have become symbols of the city's varied cuisine. Today, these are part of the local culture and can be found throughout the city at window cafés, particularly outside of supermarkets and restaurants. Some of these locations, such as the Versailles restaurant in Little Havana, are landmark eateries of Miami. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, and with a long history as a seaport, Miami is also known for its seafood, with many seafood restaurants located along the Miami River and in and around Biscayne Bay. The city is also the headquarters of restaurant chains such as
Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
and
Benihana is an American restaurant company founded by Hiroaki Aoki in New York City in 1964 and currently based in Aventura, Florida. It owns or franchises 116 Japanese-influenced restaurants around the world, including its flagship Benihana Teppanya ...
.


Dialect

The Miami area has a unique dialect, commonly called the " Miami accent", that is widely spoken. The accent developed among second- or third-generation Hispanics, including Cuban Americans, whose first language was English (though some
non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
, black, and other races who were born and raised in the Miami area tend to adopt it as well). It is based on a fairly standard American accent but with some changes, very similar to dialects in the Mid-Atlantic (especially those in the
New York area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...
and Northern New Jersey, including New York Latino English). Unlike Virginia Piedmont, Coastal Southern American, Northeast American dialects and Florida Cracker dialect, "Miami accent" is rhotic; it also incorporates a rhythm and pronunciation heavily influenced by Spanish (wherein rhythm is isochrony#syllable timing, syllable-timed). This is a native dialect of English, not learner English or interlanguage; it is possible to differentiate this variety from an interlanguage spoken by second-language speakers in that the "Miami accent" does ''not'' generally display the following features: there is no epenthesis, addition of before initial consonant clusters with , speakers do not confuse of with , (e.g., ''Yale'' with ''jail''), and /r/ and /rr/ are pronounced as Alveolar approximant, alveolar approximant [] instead of alveolar tap or alveolar trill [r] in Spanish.


Sports

Miami's main five sports teams are Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer (MLS), the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB), and the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Miami Open, an annual tennis tournament, was previously held in Key Biscayne, Florida, Key Biscayne before moving to Hard Rock Stadium after the tournament was purchased by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross, Stephen Ross in 2019. The city is home to numerous marinas, jai alai venues, and golf courses. The city streets have hosted professional auto races in the past, most notably the open-wheel Grand Prix of Miami (open wheel racing), Grand Prix of Miami, the sports car Grand Prix of Miami (sports car racing), Grand Prix of Miami, and Miami Grand Prix of Formula One. The Homestead–Miami Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway oval hosts NASCAR races. The Heat and the Marlins play within Miami's city limits, at the FTX Arena in
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
and LoanDepot Park in Little Havana, respectively. Marlins Park is built on the site of the old Miami Orange Bowl stadium. The Miami Dolphins play at Hard Rock Stadium in suburban Miami Gardens, Florida, Miami Gardens, while the Florida Panthers play in nearby Sunrise, Florida, Sunrise at the FLA Live Arena. Inter Miami CF plays at DRV PNK Stadium in nearby Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, temporarily until a stadium is built in Miami. The Orange Bowl, one of the major bowl games in the College Football Playoff of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, is played at Hard Rock Stadium every winter. The stadium has also hosted the Super Bowl; the Miami metro area has hosted the game a total of ten times (five times at the current Hard Rock Stadium and five at the Miami Orange Bowl), tying New Orleans for the most games. Miami is also the home of many college sports teams. The two largest are the University of Miami Miami Hurricanes, Hurricanes, whose Miami Hurricanes football, football team plays at Hard Rock Stadium and Florida International University FIU Panthers, Panthers, whose FIU Panthers football, football team plays at Riccardo Silva Stadium, Ricardo Silva Stadium. The Hurricanes compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while the Panthers compete in the Conference USA of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Miami is also home to Paso Fino horses, and competitions are held at Tropical Park Equestrian Center. The following are the major professional sports teams in the Miami metropolitan area:


Beaches and parks

The City of Miami has various lands operated by the National Park Service, the Florida Division of Recreation and Parks, and the City of Miami Department of Parks and Recreation. Miami's tropical weather allows for year-round outdoor activities. The city has numerous marinas, rivers, bays, canals, and the Atlantic Ocean, which make boating, canoeing, sailing, and fishing popular outdoor activities. Biscayne Bay has numerous coral reefs that make snorkeling and scuba diving popular. There are over 80 parks and gardens in the city. The largest and most popular parks are Bayfront Park and Museum Park (Miami), Museum Park (located in the heart of
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
and the location of the FTX Arena and Bayside Marketplace), Tropical Park, Peacock Park, Virginia Key, and
Watson Island Watson Island is a neighborhood and man-made island in Biscayne Bay, in Miami, Florida. It is located Immediately east of the Central Business District and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods of downtown Miami and is connected to the ma ...
. Other popular cultural destinations in or near Miami include Zoo Miami, Jungle Island, the Miami Seaquarium, Monkey Jungle, Coral Castle, Charles Deering Estate, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and Key Biscayne. In its 2020 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that the park system in the City of Miami was the 64th best park system among the 100 most populous US cities, down slightly from 48th place in the 2017 ranking. The City of Miami was analyzed to have a median park size of 2.6 acres, park land as percent of city area of 6.5%, 87% of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park, $48.39 spending per capita of park services, and 1.3 playgrounds per 10,000 residents.


Law and government

The government of the City of Miami uses the Mayor-council government, mayor-commissioner type of system. The city commission consists of five commissioners that are elected from single member districts. The city commission constitutes the governing body with powers to pass ordinances, adopt regulations, and exercise all powers conferred upon the city in the city charter. The mayor is elected at large and appoints a city manager. The City of Miami is governed by Mayor Francis X. Suarez and 5 city commissioners that oversee the five districts in the city. The commission's regular meetings are held at Miami City Hall, which is located at 3500 Pan American Drive on Dinner Key in the neighborhood of Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, Coconut Grove. In the United States House of Representatives, Miami is represented by Republican Party (United States), Republican Maria Elvira Salazar and Democratic Party (United States), Democrat Frederica Wilson.


City Commission

# Francis X. Suarez – Mayor of the City of Miami * Alex Diaz de la Portilla – Miami Commissioner, District 1 :: Allapattah and Grapeland Heights * Ken Russell (politician), Ken Russell – Miami Commissioner, District 2 ::Arts & Entertainment District, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Coral Way, Downtown Miami, Edgewater, Midtown Miami, Park West (Miami), Park West and the South part Upper Eastside * Joe Carollo – Miami Commissioner, District 3 :: Coral Way, Little Havana and The Roads * Manolo Reyes – Miami Commissioner, District 4 :: Coral Way, Flagami and West Flagler * Christine King – Miami Commissioner, District 5 ::Buena Vista (Miami), Buena Vista, Design District, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little River (Miami), Little River, Lummus Park Historic District, Lummus Park, Overtown, Spring Garden (Miami), Spring Garden and Wynwood and northern part of the Upper Eastside * Arthur Noriega – City Manager * Victoria Méndez – City Attorney * Todd B. Hannon – City Clerk


Education


Colleges and universities

Miami-Dade County has over 200,000 students enrolled in local colleges and universities, placing it seventh in the nation in per capita university enrollment. In 2010, the city's four largest colleges and universities, Miami Dade College, Florida International University, University of Miami, and Barry University, graduated 28,000 students. Miami is also home to both for-profit and nonprofit organizations that offer a range of professional training and other, related educational programs. Per Scholas, ''Per'' Scholas, for example is a nonprofit organization that offers free professional certification training directed towards successfully passing CompTIA A+ and Network+ certification exams as a route to securing jobs and building careers. Colleges and universities in and around Miami: # Barry University (private) # Broward College (public) # Carlos Albizu University (private) # Florida Atlantic University (public) # Florida International University (public) # Florida Memorial University (private) # Keiser University (private) # Manchester Business School (satellite location, UK public) # Miami Culinary Institute (public) # Miami Dade College (public) # Miami International University of Art & Design (private) # Nova Southeastern University (private) # Palm Beach State College (public) # St. Thomas University (Florida), St. Thomas University (private) # Southeastern College (private) # Talmudic University (private) # University of Miami (private)


Primary and secondary schools

Public schools in Miami are governed by Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which is the largest school district in Florida and the fourth-largest in the United States. As of September 2008 it has a student enrollment of 385,655 and over 392 schools and centers. The district is also the largest minority public school system in the country, with 60% of its students being of Hispanic origin, 28% African American, Black or West Indian American, 10% White American, White (non-Hispanic) and 2% non-white of other minorities. Miami is home to some of the nation's best high schools, such as Design and Architecture High School, ranked the nation's best magnet school, MAST Academy, Coral Reef High School, ranked 20th-best public high school in the U.S., Miami Palmetto High School, and the New World School of the Arts. M-DCPS is also one of a few public school districts in the United States to offer optional bilingual education in Spanish, French, German, Haitian Creole, and Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese. Miami is home to several well-known Roman Catholic, Jewish and non-denominational private schools. The Archdiocese of Miami operates the city's Catholic private schools, which include St. Hugh Catholic School, St. Agatha Catholic School, St. Theresa School (Coral Gables, Florida), St. Theresa School, Immaculata-Lasalle High School, Monsignor Edward Pace High School, Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School, St. Brendan High School, among numerous other Catholic elementary and high schools. Catholic preparatory schools operated by religious orders are Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and Christopher Columbus High School (Miami, Florida), Christopher Columbus High School for boys and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy for girls. Non-denominational private schools in Miami are Ransom Everglades School, Ransom Everglades, Gulliver Preparatory School, and Miami Country Day School. Other schools in the area include Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School, Dade Christian School, Palmer Trinity School, Westminster Christian School (Florida), Westminster Christian School, and Riviera Schools.


Supplementary education

The Miami Hoshuko, is a hoshuko, part-time Japanese school for Japanese citizens and ethnic Japanese people in the area. Previously it was located on Virginia Key, at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Currently the school holds classes in Westchester, Florida, Westchester and has offices in Doral."


Media

Miami has one of the largest television markets in the nation and the second largest in the state of Florida after Tampa Bay area, Tampa Bay. Miami has several major newspapers, the main and largest newspaper being ''The Miami Herald''. ''El Nuevo Herald'' is the major and largest Spanish-language newspaper. ''The Miami Herald'' and ''El Nuevo Herald'' are Miami's and South Florida's main, major and largest newspapers. The papers left their longtime home in Downtown Miami in 2013. The newspapers are now headquartered at the former home of U.S. Southern Command in Doral. Other major newspapers include ''Miami Today'', headquartered in Brickell, ''Miami New Times'', headquartered in Midtown, ''Miami SunPost'', ''South Florida Business Journal'', and ''The Miami Times''. An additional Spanish-language newspaper, ''Diario Las Americas'' also serves Miami. Student newspapers from the local universities include the University of Miami's ''The Miami Hurricane'', Florida International University's ''The Beacon (Florida International University), The Beacon'', Miami-Dade College's ''The Metropolis'', and Barry University's ''The Buccaneer''. A number of magazines circulate throughout the greater Miami area, including ''Miami Monthly'', Southeast Florida's only city/regional, and ''Ocean Drive (magazine), Ocean Drive'', a hot-spot social scene glossy. Miami is also the headquarters and main production city of many of the world's largest television networks, record label companies, broadcasting companies and production facilities, such as Telemundo, Univision, Univision Communications, Mega TV (American TV network), Mega TV, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, RCTV International and Sunbeam Television. In 2009, Univision announced plans to build a new production studio in Miami, dubbed Univision Studios. Univision Studios is currently headquartered in Miami, and will produce programming for all of Univision Communications' television networks. Miami is the twelfth largest radio market and the seventeenth largest television market in the United States. Television stations serving the Miami area include WAMI-TV, WAMI (
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
), WBFS-TV, WBFS (Independent station (North America), Independent), WSFL-TV, WSFL (The CW), WFOR-TV, WFOR (CBS Owned-and-operated station, O&O), WHFT (Trinity Broadcasting Network, TBN), WLTV (Univision), WPLG (American Broadcasting Company, ABC), WPXM (i television network, Ion), WSCV ( Telemundo), WSVN (Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox), WTVJ (NBC O&O), WPBT (PBS), and WLRN-TV, WLRN (also PBS).


Transportation

According to the 2016 American Community Survey, 72.3% of working city of Miami residents commuted by driving alone, 8.7% carpooled, 9% used public transportation, and 3.7% walked. About 1.8% used all other forms of transportation, including taxicab, motorcycle, and bicycle. About 4.5% of working city of Miami residents worked at home. In 2015, 19.9% of city of Miami households were without a car, which decreased to 18.6% in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Miami averaged 1.24 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8 per household.


Expressways and roads

Miami's road system is based along the numerical Miami grid where Flagler Street forms the east–west Baseline (surveying), baseline and Miami Avenue forms the north–south Meridian (geography), meridian. The corner of Flagler Street and Miami Avenue is in the middle of Downtown in front of the Downtown Macy's (formerly the Burdine's headquarters). The Miami grid is primarily numerical so that, for example, all street addresses north of Flagler Street and west of Miami Avenue have "NW" in their address. Because its point of origin is in Downtown, which is close to the coast, the "NW" and "SW" quadrants are much larger than the "SE" and "NE" quadrants. Many roads, especially major ones, are also named (e.g., Tamiami Trail, Tamiami Trail/SW 8th St), although, with exceptions, the number is in more common usage among locals. With few exceptions, within this grid north–south roads are designated as Courts, Roads, Avenues or Places (often remembered by their acronym), while east–west roads are Streets, Terraces, Drives or occasionally Ways. Major roads in each direction are located at one mile intervals. There are 16 City block, blocks to each mile on north–south avenues, and 10 blocks to each mile on east–west streets. Major north–south avenues generally end in "7" – e.g., 17th, 27th, 37th/Douglas Aves., 57th/Red Rd., 67th/Ludlam, 87th/Galloway, etc., all the way west beyond 177th/Krome Avenue. (One prominent exception is 42nd Avenue, LeJeune Road, located at the half-mile point instead.) Major east–west streets to the south of Downtown are multiples of 16, though the beginning point of this system is at SW 8th St, one half-mile south of Flagler ("zeroth") Street. Thus, major streets are at 8th St., 24th St./Coral Way, 40th St./Bird, 56th/Miller, 72nd/ Sunset, 88th/N. Kendall, 104th (originally S. Kendall), 120th/Montgomery, 136th/Howard, 152nd/Coral Reef, 168th/Richmond, 184th/Eureka, 200th/Quail Roost, 216th/Hainlin Mill, 232nd/Silver Palm, 248th/Coconut Palm, etc., well into the 300s. Within the grid, odd-numbered addresses are generally on the north or east side, and even-numbered addresses are on the south or west side. All streets and avenues in Miami-Dade County follow the Miami grid, with a few exceptions, most notably in
Coral Gables Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the U ...
, Hialeah, Coconut Grove and Miami Beach. One neighborhood, The Roads, is named as such because its streets run off the Miami grid at a 45-degree angle, and therefore are all named roads. Miami-Dade County is served by four Interstate Highways (Interstate 75 (Florida), I-75, Interstate 95 in Florida, I-95, Interstate 195 (Florida), I-195, Interstate 395 (Florida), I-395) and several U.S. Highways including U.S. Route 1 (Florida), U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 27 (Florida), U.S. Route 27, U.S. Route 41 (Florida), U.S. Route 41, and U.S. Route 441 (Florida), U.S. Route 441.
Some of the major Florida State Roads (and their common names) serving Miami are: * State Road 112 (Florida), SR 112 (Airport Expressway): Interstate 95 in Florida, Interstate 95 to Miami International Airport, MIA * Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (SR 821): Florida's Turnpike mainline (SR 91)/Miami Gardens, Florida, Miami Gardens to U.S. Route 1 (Florida), U.S. Route 1/Florida City, Florida, Florida City * State Road 826 (Florida), SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway): Golden Glades Interchange to U.S. Route 1/Pinecrest, Florida, Pinecrest * State Road 836 (Florida), SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway): Downtown to SW 137th Ave via Miami International Airport, MIA * State Road 874 (Florida), SR 874 (Don Shula Expressway): 826/Bird Road to Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike/Kendall, Florida, Kendall * State Road 878 (Florida), SR 878 (Snapper Creek Expressway): SR 874/Kendall, Florida, Kendall to U.S. Route 1/Pinecrest & South Miami, Florida, South Miami * State Road 924 (Florida), SR 924 (Gratigny Parkway) Miami Lakes, Florida, Miami Lakes to Opa-locka, Florida, Opa-locka Miami has six major causeways that span over Biscayne Bay connecting the western mainland, with the eastern barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean. The Rickenbacker Causeway is the southernmost causeway and connects Brickell to Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, Florida, Key Biscayne. The Venetian Causeway and MacArthur Causeway connect
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
with
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
. The Julia Tuttle Causeway connects Midtown and Miami Beach. The Florida State Road 934, 79th Street Causeway connects the Upper Eastside, Miami, Florida, Upper East Side with North Beach (Miami Beach), North Beach. The northernmost causeway, the Broad Causeway, is the smallest of Miami's six causeways and connects North Miami, Florida, North Miami to Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbour, Florida, Bal Harbour. In 2007, Miami was identified as having the rudest drivers in the United States, the second year in a row to have been cited, in a poll commissioned by automobile club AutoVantage. Miami is also consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States for pedestrians.


Public transportation

Public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit and South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, SFRTA, and includes commuter rail (Tri-Rail), heavy-rail rapid transit (Metrorail (Miami-Dade County), Metrorail), an elevated people mover (Metromover), and buses (Miami-Dade Transit#Metrobus, Metrobus). Miami has Florida's highest transit ridership as about 17% of Miamians use transit on a daily basis. The average Miami public transit commute on weekdays is 90 minutes, while 39% of public transit riders commute for more than 2 hours a day. The average wait time at a public transit stop or station is 18 minutes, while 37% of riders wait for more than 20 minutes on average every day. The average single trip distance with public transit is , while 38% travel more than in each direction. Miami's heavy-rail rapid transit system, Metrorail (Miami-Dade County), Metrorail, is an elevated system comprising two lines and 23 stations on a -long line. Metrorail connects the urban western suburbs of Hialeah, Medley, Florida, Medley, and inner-city Miami with suburban The Roads, Coconut Grove,
Coral Gables Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the U ...
, South Miami, and urban Kendall, Florida, Kendall via the central business districts of Miami International Airport, the Health District, and Downtown. A free, elevated people mover, Metromover, operates 21 stations on three different lines in greater Downtown Miami, with a station at roughly every two blocks of Downtown and Brickell. Several expansion projects are being funded by a transit development sales tax surcharge throughout Miami-Dade County. Tri-Rail, a commuter rail system operated by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), runs from Miami International Airport northward to West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach, making eighteen stops throughout Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade, Broward County, Broward, and Palm Beach County, Palm Beach counties. The Miami Intermodal Center is a massive transportation hub servicing Metrorail (Miami-Dade County), Metrorail, Amtrak, Tri-Rail, Miami-Dade Transit#Metrobus, Metrobus, Greyhound Lines, Taxicab, taxis, rental cars, MIA Mover, private automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians adjacent to Miami International Airport. Miami Intermodal Center was completed in 2010, and is serving about 150,000 commuters and travelers in the Miami area. Phase I of MiamiCentral Station was completed in 2012, and the Tri-Rail part of Phase II was completed in 2015, but the construction of the Amtrak part remains delayed. Two new light rail systems, Baylink and the Miami Streetcar, have been proposed and are currently in the planning stage. BayLink would connect Downtown with
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
, and the Miami Streetcar would connect Downtown with Midtown. Miami is the southern terminus of Amtrak's Atlantic Coast services, running two lines, the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star (Amtrak train), Silver Star, both terminating in New York City. The Miami Amtrak Station is located in the suburb of Hialeah near the Tri-Rail and Metrorail transfer station, Tri-Rail/Metrorail Station on NW 79 St and NW 38 Ave. Current construction of the Miami Central Station will move all Amtrak operations from its current out-of-the-way location to a centralized location with Miami Metrorail, Metrorail, MIA Mover, Tri-Rail, Miami International Airport, and the Miami Intermodal Center all within the same station closer to Downtown. The station was expected to be completed by 2012, but experienced several delays and was later expected to be completed in late 2014, again pushed back to early 2015.


Airports

Miami International Airport serves as the primary international airport of the Greater Miami Area. One of the busiest international airports in the world because of its centric location, Miami International Airport caters to over 45 million passengers a year. The airport is a major hub and the largest international gateway for American Airlines. Miami International is the second busiest airport by passenger traffic in Florida, the United States' third-largest international port of entry for foreign air passengers behind New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. The airport's extensive international route network includes non-stop flights to over seventy international cities in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Alternatively, nearby Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport also serve commercial traffic in the Miami area. Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida, Opa-locka and Miami Executive Airport in an unincorporated area southwest of Miami serve general aviation traffic in the Miami area.


Cycling and walking

The city government under former mayor Manny Diaz (Florida politician), Manny Diaz took an ambitious stance in support of bicycling in Miami for both recreation and commuting. In 2010, Miami was ranked as the 44th-most bike-friendly city in the US according to ''Bicycling Magazine''. A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Miami the eighth-most walkable of the fifty largest cities in the U.S.


Public safety


International relations


Sister cities

* Agadir, Morocco (since 1995) * Barranquilla, Colombia (since 2015) * Bogotá, Colombia (since 1971) * Buenos Aires, Argentina (since 1979) * Kagoshima, Japan (since 1990) * Kaohsiung, Taiwan (since 1987) * Lima, Peru (since 1977) * Madrid, Spain (since 2014) * Murcia, Spain (since 1993) * Nice, France (since 1986) * Palermo, Italy (since 1997) * Qingdao, China (since 2005) * Salvador, Bahia, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil (since 2006) * San Salvador, El Salvador (since 1991) * Santiago, Chile, Santiago, Chile (since 1986) * Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (since 1987) * Southampton, United Kingdom (since 2019)


Cooperation agreements

* Lisbon, Portugal * Yeruham, Israel


Notable people


Notes


References


Further reading

* Elizabeth M. Aranda, Sallie Hughes, and Elena Sabogal, ''Making a Life in Multiethnic Miami: Immigration and the Rise of a Global City.'' Boulder, Colorado: Renner, 2014.


External links


City of Miami – official site

Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau
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