Broward County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States, located in the

Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the lar ...

. It is Florida's second-most populous county after

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 coun ...

and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with 1,944,375 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and most populous city is

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

, which had a population of 182,760 as of 2020. The county is part of the

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

region of the state. Broward County is one of the three counties that make up the

, which is home to 6.14 million people as of 2020. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the entire country. As of 2022, Broward County has a

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

of $124.8 billion, the second-largest GDP of Florida's 67 counties and the 25th-largest for the nation's 3,033 counties.

History

Native people

The earliest evidence of Native American settlement in the Miami region came from about 12,000 years ago. The first inhabitants settled on the banks of the Miami River, with the main villages on the northern banks. The inhabitants at the time of first European contact were the

Tequesta The Tequesta, also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos, were a Native American tribe on the Southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans and had largely migrated by the middle of the 18th century. Loca ...

people, who controlled much of southeastern Florida, including what is now

, Broward County, and the southern part of

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 24th-most populous in the United States, wi ...

. The Tequesta Indians fished, hunted, and gathered the fruit and roots of plants for food, but did not practice any form of agriculture. They buried the small bones of the deceased with the rest of the body, and put the larger bones in a box for the village people to see. The Tequesta are credited with making the Miami Circle. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward

Founding of Broward

Broward County was founded on April 30, 1915. It was intended to be named Everglades County, but then-

Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives The speaker is the Speaker (politics), presiding member of the Florida House of Representatives. The Speaker and his staff provide direction and coordination to employees throughout the House and serve the members in carrying out their constitut ...

Ion Farris amended the bill that established the county to name it in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, governor of Florida from 1905 to 1909. Throughout his term as governor, Broward championed Everglades drainage and was remembered for his campaign to turn the Everglades into "useful land". This opened up much of today's urban Broward County for development, first as agricultural land and later as residential. A year before Broward became governor, Dania became the first incorporated community of what is now Broward County, followed by Pompano in 1908, and Fort Lauderdale in 1911. In 1915, Palm Beach and Dade counties contributed nearly equal portions of land to create Broward County. Broward County began a huge development boom after its incorporation, with the first "tourist hotel", in

, opening in 1919. A year later, developers began dredging wetlands in the county to create island communities.

Land boom and rapid growth

By 1925, the boom was considered to have reached its peak, but the 1926 Miami hurricane caused economic depression in the county. The county saw another population and development boom post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when the transformation from agricultural to urbanized residential area began. In 1967, Coconut Creek was incorporated. The effects of a national recession hit the county in 1974 and the population growth finally slowed. This is from a peak growth percentage change of 297.9% which saw the population of Broward grow from 83,933 as of

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

to 333,946 in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

. The population subsequently experienced an 85.7% population growth which brought the population to a total of 620,100 in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Recent history

The structure of the Broward County government was signed into law in 1975 with the passage of the Broward County charter. In the same year, the

Seminole Tribe of Florida The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a List of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is ...

incorporated as a governing entity and began organizing cigarette sales, bingo and land leases that will bring millions of dollars in annual revenue in later years. In 1976,

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

was completed through Broward County. On January 19, 1977, snow fell in South Florida for the first time in recorded history. Snow was seen across all of South Florida as far south as Homestead and even on Miami Beach. Snow was officially reported by weather observers in West Palm Beach, LaBelle, Hollywood, and Royal Palm Ranger Station in southern Miami-Dade County. In the year 1980, the

US census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 under Secretar ...

reported over 1 million people living in Broward County. On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew passed through Broward County County, causing $100 million in damage in the county and leaving many residents homeless. In the year 2000, the US census reported a total population of 1,623,018. The town of South West Ranches was incorporated this year. On March 1, 2005, West Park became Broward County's 31st municipality to be incorporated. On October 24, 2005,

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin and the second-most intense tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere, both based on barometric pressure, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Wilma's rapid intensifi ...

hit

leaving the entire area damaged and causing almost universal power outages. Wilma was the most damaging storm in Broward County since

Hurricane King Hurricane King was the most severe hurricane to strike the city of Miami, Florida, since the 1926 Miami hurricane. It was the eleventh tropical storm and the last of six major hurricanes in the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season. The cyclone formed ...

in 1950. Broward experienced wind speeds between which endured for about five hours. On February 14, 2018, the city of Parkland became the scene of a deadly mass shooting perpetrated by a 19-year-old former student of

Stoneman Douglas High School Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. Established in 1990 as part of the Broward County Public Schools district and named after the writer Marjory Stonem ...

. The trial of the perpetrator of the shooting,

Nikolas Cruz Nikolas Jacob Cruz (born September 24, 1998) is an American mass murderer who perpetrated the Parkland high school shooting, where he shot and killed fourteen students and three staff members while injuring seventeen others on February 14, 2018 ...

, was held at the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Broward County in 2022 with Judge Elizabeth Scherer presiding. Cruz was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In June 2020, following the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

, some residents called for the county to be renamed due to Governor Broward's support for

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

and the

Back-to-Africa movement The back-to-Africa movement was a political movement in the 19th and 20th centuries advocating for a return of the descendants of African American slaves to Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent. The small number of freed slaves who did ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has an area of , of which is land and (8.5%) is water. Broward County has an average elevation of above sea level. It is rather new geologically and at the eastern edge of the Florida Platform, a

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

plateau created millions of years ago. Broward County is composed of

Oolite Oolite or oölite () is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 millimetres; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pis ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

while western Broward is composed mostly of

Bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary Colony (biology), colonies. Typically about long, they have a spe ...

. Broward is among the last areas of Florida to be created and populated with fauna and flora, mostly in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. Of developable land in Broward County, approximately , the majority is built upon, as the urban area is bordered by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to the east and the Everglades Wildlife Management Area to the west. Within developable land, Broward County has a population density of 3,740 per square mile (1,444 per square kilometer). Broward approved the construction of Osborne Reef, an

artificial reef An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote Marine biology#Reefs, marine life, it may be intended to control #Erosion prevention, erosio ...

made of tires off the Fort Lauderdale beach, but it has proven to be an environmental disaster.

Adjacent counties

- north *

- south * Collier County - west * Hendry County - northwest

Demographics

Law, government, and politics

Broward County mayors

The Broward County

Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

provides for a separation between the legislative and administrative functions of government. The Board of County Commissioners is the legislative branch of Broward County Government. The County Commission is composed of nine members elected by district. Commissioners must be a resident of the district where they seek election. Each year the Commission elects a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and

vice mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

. The mayor's functions are primarily ceremonial; serving as presiding officer and as the county's official representative. The Commission appoints the County Administrator, County Attorney and County Auditor. The commission also appoints numerous advisory and regulatory boards. The County Commission meets in formal session the first four Tuesdays of each month at 10:00 a.m. in Room 422 of the Broward County Governmental Center. Over 507,000 cable subscribers in Broward County have access to Government-access television (GATV) coverage of Commission meetings, which are broadcast live beginning at 10:00 a.m. each Tuesday, and rebroadcast at 5:30 p.m. the following Friday. Meetings can also be viewed via webcasting at www.broward.org. The Broward County Sheriff's Office (BSO) has 5,400 employees, and is the largest sheriff's department in Florida. The BSO was founded in 1915. Sheriff Gregory Tony has been the Sheriff heading the agency since 2019, when he replaced Sheriff Scott Israel, who had been Sheriff since 2013.

Politics

Overview

Broward County has been a Democratic stronghold since

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, voting for the Party's presidential nominee in every election since then. It is now considered one of the most reliably Democratic counties in the state,State:Broward Power
St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved November 14, 2006. still generally voting for Democrats even in statewide landslide losses, in presidential and gubernatorial elections. It gave greater than 60% support to the Democratic party nominee in every election since

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

until

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. In 2024, Democratic nominee

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

won below 60% of the vote in the county for the first time since 1992. From

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

to 1988, the county leaned Republican, voting for the Republican nominee in every election except

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, even supporting Republican

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

by a 56–44 margin while he lost the national election in a landslide. Unlike Miami-Dade County to the south, where many of the immigrants are Republican-leaning Cuban-Americans, Cubans comprise only a small proportion of the immigrant population in Broward County. Broward County is also over 25% African American.

Voter registration

According to the Secretary of State's office, Democrats maintain a plurality among registered voters in Broward County. The county is also one of the few counties in the state where Independents outnumber Republicans.

Ordinances

Broward's code of ordinances consists of resolutions, administrative rules and regulations passed in order to secure a responsive and efficient form of local government. The county maintains a distinctive rule regarding communication between the county and bidders for county contracts, known as the ''Cone of Silence''. This rule prevents staff involved in a purchasing process from communicating with bidders from the time when the solicitation is issued, and County Commissioners from the time when bids are opened, until the vote to award the contract or the time when all bids are rejected.

Economy

Silver Airways Silver Airways was a regional airline in the United States with its headquarters in Hollywood, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale. It was founded in 2011 with assets from the former Gulfstream International Airlines, and la ...

has its headquarters on the property of

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

. Zoning Map
." City of Dania Beach. Retrieved on May 12, 2010. Other companies with headquarters in unincorporated areas include Locair.

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

relocated its headquarters to Dania Beach on April 18, 2024. Prior to that, the airline operated out of Miramar for 24 years, since December 1999. When

Chalk's International Airlines Chalk's International Airlines, formerly Chalk's Ocean Airways, was an airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in unincorporated Broward County, Florida near Fort Lauderdale. It operated ...

existed, its headquarters was on the grounds of the airport in an unincorporated area. When Bimini Island Air existed, its headquarters were in an unincorporated area. By far the largest

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

sector is nurseries,

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

floriculture Floriculture (from ) is the study of the efficient production of the plants that produce showy, colorful flowers and foliage for human enjoyment in human environments. It is a commercially successful branch of horticulture and agriculture found ...

s, and

sod Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

. This supplies ornamental uses in the area.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Broward County Schools, the sole school district in the county, has the sixth largest

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

in the country and the second largest in the state after the Miami-Dade district.

Regionally accredited colleges and universities

* Broward College *

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university is a member of the State University System of Florida and has s ...

(Branch campuses) *

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a Private university, private research university in Florida with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, Davie, Florida, United States. The university consists of 14 colleges, offering over ...

* Keiser University

Other adult education providers

* DeVry University *

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the Ac ...

* The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale * Florida Career College * Brown Mackie College * Atlantic Technical Center and Technical High School * McFatter Technical College and Technical High School * Sheridan Technical College and Technical High School

Public libraries

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

Library Resources

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

Sites of interest

Museums and historical collections

* African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, Fort Lauderdale * Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, Fort Lauderdale * Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs * Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum, Fort Lauderdale * Fort Lauderdale History Center, Fort Lauderdale * Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum, Fort Lauderdale * NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale * Plantation Historical Museum, Plantation * Stranahan House, Fort Lauderdale * The International Game Fish Association, including the Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, Dania Beach * The

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

* The Museum of Discovery and Science, Fort Lauderdale * Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts, Dania Beach * Young at Art Museum, Davie

Nature and wildlife areas

Anne Kolb Nature Center
Hollywood * Butterfly World, a botanical sanctuary in Coconut Creek * Everglades Holiday Park, featuring airboat rides and alligator shows * Fern Forest Nature Center, Coconut Creek * Flamingo Gardens, a botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary * Secret Woods Nature Center, Dania Beach * Sawgrass Recreation Park Evergladesairboattour

Other areas and attractions

* Beach Place, a strip of stores, restaurants, and bars across the street from the beach along the Atlantic coast, in Fort Lauderdale * Broward Center for the Performing Arts * Hollywood Beach Broadwalk * Florida Grand Opera * Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop (colloquially known to locals as simply the Swap Shop) * Sawgrass Mills, a large outlet shopping mall in

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

Amerant Bank Arena Amerant Bank Arena (previously known as the National Car Rental Center, Office Depot Center, BankAtlantic Center, BB&T Center, and FLA Live Arena) is an indoor arena in Sunrise, Florida, United States. It is the home venue for the Florida Panth ...

in Sunrise, where the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

play their games * The Festival Flea Market Mall in Pompano Beach, America's largest indoor flea market * Riverside Hotel, Fort Lauderdale's oldest continuously operating hotel * Riverwalk (Fort Lauderdale) Additionally, with 23 miles of beach, Broward County is a popular destination for scuba diving, snorkeling, and droves of young

Spring break Spring break is a vacation period at universities and schools that includes the Easter holiday, and takes place in early Northern Hemisphere spring. Introduced in the U.S. during the 1930s, spring break has been observed in Europe since t ...

tourists from around the world.

Transportation

Airports

Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport is a major public airport located in Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, roughly southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale and north of Mi ...

serves as the primary airport of the Broward County area. The airport is bounded by the cities

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

and Dania Beach, southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale and north of Miami. The airport is near cruise line terminals at

Port Everglades Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2022, Port Eve ...

and is popular among tourists bound for the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Since the late 1990s, FLL has become an intercontinental gateway, although

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary international airport serving Miami and its Miami metropolitan area, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Florida. It hosts over 1, ...

still handles most long-haul flights. FLL is ranked as the 19th busiest airport (in terms of passenger traffic) in the United States, as well as the nation's 14th busiest international air gateway and one of the world's 50 busiest airports. FLL is classified by the US Federal Aviation Administration as a "major hub" facility serving commercial air traffic. In 2017 the airport processed 32,511,053 passengers (11.3% more than 2016) including 7,183,275 international passengers (18.6% more than 2016). * North Perry Airport *

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located within the city limits of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, in Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, north of downtown Fort Lauderdal ...

* Pompano Beach Airpark * Downtown Fort Lauderdale Heliport BCTBus

Public transportation

* Broward County Transit * Sun Trolley

Major expressways

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

Interstate 595 (Port Everglades Expressway) *

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned highway, unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximate ...

(SR 91) * Homestead Extension (SR 821) * Toll Florida 869

State Road 869 (Sawgrass Expressway)

Railroads

* Passenger services:

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Brightline Brightline (reporting mark BLFX) is an intercity rail route in the United States that runs between Miami and Orlando, Florida. Part of the route runs on track owned and shared by the Florida East Coast Railway. Brightline is the only privat ...

, and

Tri-Rail Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach County, Palm Beach, Broward Count ...

* Freight services:

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 p ...

and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Street grid

street grid In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...

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

Greenways System

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

Communities

Municipalities

Municipality populations are based on the 2020 US census using their QuickFacts with 5,000 residents and above, while municipalities under 5,000 people are based on their US Decennial Census.

Former unincorporated neighborhoods

In the 1980s, the Broward County Commission adopted a policy of having all populated places in the county be part of a municipality. Municipalities were often reluctant to annex neighborhoods which were not projected to yield enough tax revenue to cover the costs of providing services to those neighborhoods. In 2001 the Broward County Legislative Delegation adopted a policy encouraging the annexation of all unincorporated areas in Broward County into municipalities by October 1, 2005. Formerly unincorporated neighborhoods that have been annexed into existing municipalities or combined to form new municipalities include:

Remaining unincorporated neighborhoods

By late in the first decade of the 21st century, annexation of remaining neighborhoods had stalled. the Broward County Municipal Services District serves seven unincorporated neighborhoods, including six

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

s ( Boulevard Gardens, Broadview Park, Franklin Park, Hillsboro Pines, Roosevelt Gardens and Washington Park) and a parcel with a population of 72 in 2018, Hillsboro Ranches. Other areas in the developed part of the county that are not in municipalities include the Hollywood Seminole Indian Reservation,

, several landfills and resource recovery facilities, and other scattered small parcels with few or no residents.

Notes

References

External links

Government links / constitutional offices

Broward County Government / Board of County Commissioners

Broward County Supervisor of Elections

Broward County Property Appraiser

Broward County Sheriff's Office

Special districts

Broward County Public Schools

Broward Health (formerly North Broward Hospital District)

South Broward Hospital District
Memorial Healthcare System)
Broward Soil and Water Conservation District

South Florida Water Management District

Judicial branch

Broward County Clerk of Courts

Broward County Clerk of Courts Records

Broward County Public Defender

Broward State Attorney's Office, 17th Judicial Circuit

Circuit and County Court for the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Tourism links

Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau

''The Waterfront News''
local newspaper for Broward County, Florida fully and openly available in th
Florida Digital Newspaper Library

Official sites

The Broward Alliance
(Broward County's official public/private partnership for economic development) {{Authority control 1915 establishments in Florida Populated places established in 1915 Charter counties in Florida Counties in the Miami metropolitan area Florida counties Majority-minority counties in Florida