Community Background Report

City of Miami

County

Miami-Dade

Boundaries

See interactive map

Community Type

Municipality

History

The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes. The Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating from 500–600 B.C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River.

In 1566, the explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later, in 1567. Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempted to suppress and remove the Seminole Indian Tribe. The Miami area subsequently became a site of unrest during the Second Seminole War.

Miami is noted as "the only major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle”, a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native. The Miami area was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country" in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness. The area was also characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida”. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived.

Although the Spanish walked these shores in the early sixteenth century, it was not until the railroad arrived in 1896 that Miami could boast more than a handful of residents. From the time of its incorporation, the City’s history has been defined by fluctuations of accessibility, real estate development, the enforcement of civil rights legislation, federal redevelopment, periodic natural disasters and periods of intense migration. The arrival of Henry Flagler’s railroad and the incorporation of Miami both occurred in 1896. During the first decade of the twentieth century, the winter tourist season revolved around Henry Flagler, his Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad, his Royal Palm Hotel, and his Fort Dallas Land Company. Miami developed so rapidly that it called itself “the Magic City”. The boom of the 1920s transformed this small southern town into a metropolis. Miami stepped into the national spotlight as investors, speculators, and hopeful new residents poured into town from all over the United States. The 1926 hurricane ended the boom, and thrust Miami into a depression three years before the rest of the country. After 1927, development in Miami all but stopped, with the exception of development along Biscayne Boulevard during the late 1920s and early 1930s. During the 1930s, Miami continued to attract the working, middle-class tourist who could escape the gloom of the Great Depression. Building activity did not pick upuntil the late 1930s. The City’s recovery was generally halted by World War II, but the Overtown neighborhood within the City of Miami continued to grow. Though this area was largely considered a slum, it was also a liberating enclave where the Black community could reside, work, and own businesses, worship, and enjoy music and other preforming arts. In the 1950s, the Black community began to relocate northwest of Overtown, which was later divided by the construction of I-95 and I-395.

In 1959 a revolution took place in Cuba, installing a Communist government and sparking the beginning of a mass migration to Miami. By the 1960s, Cubans were settling northwest areas of Miami, but maintained a separation from Black neighborhoods. Civil rights legislation enforcement brought desegregation of the schools and better housing choices for Blacks. In the 1970s, Haitians began to migrate to Miami in large numbers. By the 1980s, ethnic competition culminated in racial tension and expressed itself in several riots. Simultaneously, the County built the Metrorail that opened in 1983, and escaped the economic recession, which had stymied the growth of many cities around the country.

Today the City of Miami is a large and bustling metropolis, busy with activity surrounding centers of tourism, finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, and education. Its local economy is concentrated in service and retail sectors, while manufacturing has waned. Miami is recovering from the 2007 housing crash, with occupancy levels returning to normal, and there is little doubt that property values will continue to increase in the future.

Community Dynamics

Developed as a tourist-oriented resort city, Miami acquired a “playground” mentality that created a built environment with a sense of fantasy and impermanence. Years of dramatic growth and an ever-changing population also hindered the development of a sense of identity, a sense of place. To Miamians, growth was more important than reminders of past accomplishments. Added to this transient population and frontier mentality was what seemed like an inexhaustible supply of undeveloped land. The City of Miami’s Comprehensive Plan sums up the City’s origins as it states, “Miami was discovered early and settled late”.

As with many large cities, Miami is a city of neighborhoods. Its corridors function to move people throughout the City, and to define the character of each neighborhood in the City's 36 square miles. The City of Miami’s population is 440,989, with a population density of approximately 10,000 persons per square mile. The major traffic generators and attractors remain in and near the City's downtown area near the coast, north and south of Flagler Street. These are also the areas where the population density is highest, as structures are higher along the coastline. Recent development has brought multi-family 'waterfront' housing construction north along the Miami River. Higher density residential development is also extending further west along Miami's major corridors. The City of Miami has adopted a transportation level of service based on person trips, not vehicle trips, which is the standard used in most municipalities in Miami-Dade County. This approach recognizes future constraints on corridor width and promotes public transportation, higher levels of vehicle occupancy, and alternative modes of transportation. The person trip level of service is accompanied by a bicycle level of service and a pedestrian level of service. Along with the focus maximizing the capacity of Miami's existing corridors, the City has adopted a Street Tree Master Plan that lays the foundation for an urban canopy lining the City’s streets.

The City of Miami has been, and continues to be, a comfortable home for some and a place of refuge for others. Many Miami neighborhoods continue to collect and sustain poor immigrants and poor families who find work in the City's tourism and service industries. As Miami becomes less affordable, the poor move on, finding cheaper housing further west in the county or leaving altogether.

Based on 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data, Miami has a population of 440,989 and a median age of 40.4. The median household income in Miami was $29,989 in 2015, which represents a -6.04% change from the previous year. Additionally, there were 210,736 residents with jobs in 2015, which is a 1.4% increase from the previous year. In Miami 26.6% of the population lives below the poverty line, which is higher than the national average of 14.7%. The largest group living in poverty is females aged 55-64, followed by females 25-34, and finally females 45-54. In 2015, the median property value in Miami rose to $286,600 from the previous year's value of $245,000. In 2015, 28.2% of the housing units in Miami were occupied by their owners, lower than the national average of 63%.

In 2015, there were 4.54 times more Hispanic residents (319,942 people) in Miami than any other race or ethnicity. This was followed by Blacks, with 70,461 residents, and Whites with 44,793.

The most common non-English language spoken in Miami in 2015 was Spanish, with 62.9% of the overall population being native speakers. This was followed by French Creole, with 3.7%, and Portuguese, with 0.5%.

Business Landscape

Miami is a major center of commerce and finance, and boasts a strong international business community. According to the ranking of world cities undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC) in 2010, and based on the level of presence of global corporate service organizations, Miami is considered an "Alpha minus world city". Miami has a Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) of $257 billion and is ranked 20th worldwide in GMP, and 11th in the United States.

Tourism is also an important industry in Miami. Along with finance and business, the beaches, conventions, festivals, and events draw over 38 million visitors annually into the City, from across the country and around the world, spending $17.1 billion.

In 2003, approximately 1,200 multinational corporations were established in the region. Miami International Airport (MIA) is the nation's top airport for international freight, and third for international passengers. The Port of Miami, which contributes $8 billion to the local economy, ranks first among the state's containerized ports and ninth in the United States. Miami is home to more than 64 foreign consulates, 25 international trade offices, and 32 national chambers of commerce. The “Miami Free Zone” is one of the world's largest privately owned and operated zones. The top imports into the Miami Customs District in 2002 were apparel and accessories. The leading exports were electrical machinery and photographic and medical equipment.

International banking is another growing segment of the economy. With total deposits of $74.3 billion in 2003, about 100 commercial banks, thrift institutions, foreign bank agencies, and other banks are located in downtown Miami, representing the largest concentration of domestic and international banks on the east coast, south of New York. Still, domestic banks dominate the market, led by Bank of America Corp., which has total deposits of over $7.8 billion in its 25 local offices.

Transportation Characteristics

Miami is home to Miami International Airport, one of the busiest international airports in the world, and the Port of Miami, the largest cruise ship port in the world. The public transportation network includes Tri-Rail, Metrorail, Metromover, and Metrobus, operated by Miami-Dade Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) and the South Florida Regional Transportion Authority (SFRTA). Miami has the highest transit ridership in Florida, with 17% of Miamians using transit on a daily basis.

Construction of the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) and Miami Central Station have resulted in better service for over 150,000 commuters and travelers in the Miami area. Two new light rail systems, Baylink and the Miami Streetcar, connecting Midtown, Downtown, and South Beach, have been proposed and are currently in the planning stage.

Florida High Speed Rail is a proposed high-speed rail system that will connect Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. In 2014, a private project known as All Aboard Florida, by a company of the historic Florida East Coast Railway, began construction of a higher-speed rail line in South Florida that is planned to eventually terminate at Orlando International Airport.

In October of 2009, the City also approved an extensive 20-year plan for bike routes and paths around the City. The City began construction of bike routes in late 2009, and ordinances requiring bike parking in all future construction in the City became mandatory as of October, 2009. The City has hosted the "Bike Miami" event since 2008 to encourage bicycle culture and use. In its 2015-2017 strategic plan, it includes development of complete streets with an emphasis on walkability and bike-ability.

Miami has six major causeways that span Biscayne Bay, connecting the western mainland with the eastern barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Multiple Florida State Roads, including SR 112, 821, 826, 836, 874, 878, and 924, serve the City of Miami, in addition to I-95, I-195, I-395 and US 1. All Miami-Dade County streets follow the “Miami Grid”, where Flagler Street forms the east-west baseline and Miami Avenue forms the north-south meridian.