Region of South Florida: General Information

The region of South Florida is at the southern tip of the state and made up of Monroe County and Miami-Dade County.  Monroe County includes the Florida Keys, and its county seat is Key West.  As of the 2000 Census, the county’s population was 79,589 resident, living in 35,086 households.  There were 20,384 families residing in the county.

Of the 35,086 households, there were children living in 20.80% and 46.80% were married couples living together.  Women were the heads of household in 7.30% homes and 41.90% were non-families.  Individuals lived in 28.80% of all households and 8.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The age distribution was 17.10% under the age of 18, 6.30% ranging in age from 18 to 24, and 31.10% of residents were 25 to 44 years of age.  Individuals from 45 to 64 years were 30.90% of the entire population,  and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 113.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.80 males.

The median income for a household in the South Florida region was $26,775, and the median income for a family was $26,409.  Males slightly out earned females, with a median income of $23,118 versus $20,261.  The per capita income for the city was $11,357, with about 29.1% of families and 31.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 43.9% of those under age 18 and 20.0% of those age 65 or over.  As of 2000, speakers of Spanish as a first language accounted for 51.10%, while English was at 43.22%, and French Creole made up 4.71% of the population.