Sunday, February 26, 2017

Public transit

Further information: Transportation in South Florida
Largest public transit systems in Florida (2012)
Rank City Weekday
passenger
ridership		 Population
served		  % of
population
on transit		 Modes of transit
1 Miami 367,000[232] 2,554,776 14.4% Tri-Rail, Metrorail, Metromover & Metrobus
2 Fort Lauderdale 147,718[233] 1,748,066 8.5% Tri-Rail (commuter rail) & BCT bus
3 Orlando 97,000[234] 2,134,411 4.4% Lynx bus & Sunrail
4 Gainesville 50,500[234] 125,326 40.3% RTS bus
5 Tampa 50,400[234] 1,229,226 4.1% HART bus & TECO Line Streetcar
6 West Palm Beach 45,100[235] 1,320,134 3.4% Tri-Rail (commuter rail) & Palm Tran (bus)
7 St. Petersburg 42,500[236] 916,542 4.6% PSTA bus
8 Jacksonville 41,500[234] 821,784 5.0% JTA bus & Skyway (people mover)
9 Tallahassee 22,400[234] 181,376 12.4% StarMetro bus

Sports

Main article: Sports in Florida
Daytona International Speedway is home to various auto racing events
Florida has three NFL teams, two MLB teams, two NBA teams, two NHL teams, and one MLS team. Florida gained its first permanent major-league professional sports team in 1966 when the American Football League added the Miami Dolphins. The state of Florida has given professional sports franchises some subsidies in the form of tax breaks since 1991.[237]
About half of all Major League Baseball teams conduct spring training in the state, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League". Throughout MLB history, other teams have held spring training in Florida.
NASCAR (headquartered in Daytona Beach) begins all three of its major auto racing series in Florida at Daytona International Speedway in February, featuring the Daytona 500, and ends all three Series in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daytona also has the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race weekend around Independence Day in July. The 24 Hours of Daytona is one of the world's most prestigious endurance auto races. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and Grand Prix of Miami have held IndyCar races as well.
The PGA of America is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, the PGA Tour is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, and the LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach. The Players Championship, WGC-Cadillac Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Honda Classic and Valspar Championship are PGA Tour rounds.
The Miami Masters is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier tennis event, whereas the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships is a ATP World Tour 250 event.
Minor league baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer and indoor football teams are based in Florida. Three of the Arena Football League's teams are in Florida.
Florida's universities have a number of collegiate sport programs, especially the Florida State Seminoles and Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference.
Florida major league professional sports teams
Team League Venue Location Championships
Miami Dolphins National Football League Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens 2 (1972, 1973)
Miami Heat National Basketball Association American Airlines Arena Miami 3 (2006, 2012, 2013)
Miami Marlins Major League Baseball Marlins Park Miami 2 (1997, 2003)
Florida Panthers National Hockey League BB&T Center Sunrise 0
Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League Raymond James Stadium Tampa 1 (2003)
Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball Tropicana Field St. Petersburg 0
Tampa Bay Lightning National Hockey League Amalie Arena Tampa 1 (2004)
Orlando Magic National Basketball Association Amway Center Orlando 0
Orlando City SC Major League Soccer Orlando City Stadium Orlando 0
Jacksonville Jaguars National Football League EverBank Field Jacksonville 0

Sister states

Sister jurisdiction Country Year[238]
Languedoc-Roussillon France France 1989
Taiwan Province Taiwan Taiwan, R.O.C. 1992
Wakayama Prefecture Japan Japan 1995
Western Cape South Africa South Africa 1995
Nueva Esparta Venezuela Venezuela 1999
Kyonggi South Korea South Korea 2000

See also

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Airports

See also: List of airports in Florida and Aviation in Florida
Miami International Airport is the world's 10th-busiest cargo airport, and second busiest airport for international passengers in the U.S.
Florida has 131 public airports.[225] Florida's seven large hub and medium hub airports, as classified by the FAA, are the following:
City served Code Airport name FAA
Category		 Enplanements
Miami MIA Miami International Airport Large Hub 17,017,654
Orlando MCO Orlando International Airport Large Hub 17,017,491
Fort Lauderdale FLL Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood Int'l Airport Large Hub 10,829,810
Tampa TPA Tampa International Airport Large Hub 8,137,222
Fort Myers RSW Southwest Florida International Airport Medium Hub 3,714,157
West Palm Beach PBI Palm Beach International Airport Medium Hub 2,958,416
Jacksonville JAX Jacksonville International Airport Medium Hub 2,755,719

Intercity rail

Amtrak serves most major cities in Florida. This West Palm Beach Station serves Amtrak and Tri-Rail commuter rail service.
Florida is served by Amtrak, operating numerous lines throughout, connecting the state's largest cities to points north in the United States and Canada. The busiest Amtrak train stations in Florida in 2011 were: Sanford (259,944), Orlando (179,142), Tampa Union Station (140,785), Miami (94,556), and Jacksonville (74,733).[226] Sanford, in Greater Orlando, is the southern terminus of the Auto Train, which originates at Lorton, Virginia, south of Washington, D.C.. Until 2005, Orlando was also the eastern terminus of the Sunset Limited, which travels across the southern United States via New Orleans, Houston, and San Antonio to its western terminus of Los Angeles. Florida is served by two additional Amtrak trains (the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor), which operate between New York City and Miami. Miami Central Station, the city's rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, and bus hub, is under construction.
The Florida Department of Transportation was preparing to build a high-speed rail between Tampa, Lakeland and Orlando.[227] This was to be the first phase of the Florida High Speed Rail system.[228] Soil work began in July 2010[229][230] and construction of the line was slated to begin in 2011, with the initial Tampa-Orlando phase completed by 2014.[231] The second phase, would have extended the line to Miami. Governor Scott, however, refused federal funds and the project has been canceled.
All Aboard Florida is a proposed higher-speed rail service that would run between Orlando and Miami at speeds up to 125 mph. Its Miami to Cocoa portion is scheduled to open in 2016, with the final segment to Orlando opening in 2017.
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Education

Main article: Education in Florida

Primary and secondary education

Florida's public primary and secondary schools are administered by the Florida Department of Education. School districts are organized within county boundaries. Each school district has an elected Board of Education which sets policy, budget, goals, and approves expenditures. Management is the responsibility of a Superintendent of schools.
The Florida Department of Education is required by law to train educators in teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).[217]

Universities

The State University System of Florida was founded in 1905, and is governed by the Florida Board of Governors. During the 2010 academic year, 312,216 students attended one of these twelve universities. The Florida College System comprises 28 public community and state colleges. In 2011–12, enrollment consisted of more than 875,000 students.[218]
Florida's first private university, Stetson University, was founded in 1883. The Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida is an association of 28 private, educational institutions in the state.[219] This Association reported that their member institutions served over 121,000 students in the fall of 2006.[220]

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Florida
Florida's Turnpike

Highways

Further information: State Roads in Florida
Florida's highway system contains 1,473 mi (2,371 km) of interstate highway, and 9,934 mi (15,987 km) of non-interstate highway, such as state highways and U.S. Highways. Florida's interstates, state highways, and U.S. Highways are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation.
In 2011, there were about 9,000 retail gas stations in the state. Floridians consume 21 million gallons of gasoline daily, ranking it third in national use.[221][222] Motorists have the 45th lowest rate of car insurance in the U.S. 24% are uninsured.[223]
Drivers between 15 and 19 years of age averaged 364 car crashes a year per ten thousand licensed Florida drivers in 2010. Drivers 70 and older averaged 95 per 10,000 during the same time frame. A spokesperson for the non-profit Insurance Institute said that "Older drivers are more of a threat to themselves."[224]
Before the construction of routes under the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, Florida began construction of a long cross-state toll road, Florida's Turnpike. The first section, from Fort Pierce south to the Golden Glades Interchange was completed in 1957. After a second section north through Orlando to Wildwood (near present-day The Villages), and a southward extension around Miami to Homestead, it was finished in 1974.
Florida's primary interstate routes include:
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Health

There were 2.7 million Medicaid patients in Florida in 2009. The governor has proposed adding $2.6 billion to care for the expected 300,000 additional patients in 2011.[205] The cost of caring for 2.3 million clients in 2010 was $18.8 billion.[206] This is nearly 30% of Florida's budget.[207] Medicaid paid for 60% of all births in Florida in 2009.[60] The state has a program for those not covered by Medicaid.
In 2013, Florida refused to participate in providing coverage for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, popularly called Obamacare. The Florida legislature also refused to accept additional Federal funding for Medicaid, although this would have helped its constituents at no cost to the state. As a result, Florida is second only to Texas in the percentage of its citizens without health insurance.[208]

Architecture

Miami Art Deco District, built during the 1920s-1930s.
Florida has the largest collection of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings in both the United States and the entire world, most of which are located in the Miami metropolitan area, especially Miami Beach's Art Deco District, constructed as the city was becoming a resort destination.[209] A unique architectural design found only in Florida is the post-World War II Miami Modern, which can be seen in areas such as Miami's MiMo Historic District.
Being of early importance as a regional center of banking and finance, the architecture of Jacksonville displays a wide variety of styles and design principles. Many of state's earliest skyscrapers were constructed in Jacksonville, dating as far back as 1902.,[210] and last holding a state height record from 1974 to 1981.[211] The city is endowed with one of the largest collections of Prairie School buildings outside of the Midwest.[212] Jacksonville is also noteworthy for its collection of Mid-Century modern architecture.[213]
Some sections of the state feature architectural styles including Spanish revival, Florida vernacular, and Mediterranean Revival.[214][215] A notable collection of these styles can be found in St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the United States.[216]
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Government

Since the development of the federal NASA Merritt Island launch sites on Cape Canaveral (most notably Kennedy Space Center) in 1962, Florida has developed a sizable aerospace industry.
Another major economic engine in Florida is the United States military. There are 24 military bases in the state, housing three Unified Combatant Commands; United States Central Command in Tampa, United States Southern Command in Doral, and United States Special Operations Command in Tampa. Some 109,390 U.S. military personnel stationed in Florida,[201] contributing, directly and indirectly, $52 billion a year to the state's economy.[202]
In 2009, there were 89,706 federal workers employed within the state.[203] Tens of thousands more employees work for contractors who have federal contracts, including those with the military.
In 2012, government of all levels was a top employer in all counties in the state, because this classification includes public school teachers and other school staff. School boards employ nearly 1 of every 30 workers in the state. The federal military was the top employer in three counties.[204]
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Tourism

If you can't find something to do in Florida, you're just boring...
— Guy Fieri, celebrity chef, 2017[184]
Tourism makes up one of the largest sectors of the state economy, with nearly 1.4 million persons employed in the tourism industry in 2016 (a record for the state, surpassing the 1.2 million employment from 2015).[185][186] In 2015, Florida broke the 100-million visitor mark for the first time in state history by hosting a record 105 million visitors[186][187] and broke that record in 2016 with 112.8 million tourists; Florida has set tourism records for six consecutive years.[188]
Many beach towns are popular tourist destinations, particularly during winter and spring break. Twenty-three million tourists visited Florida beaches in 2000, spending $22 billion.[189] The public has a right to beach access under the public trust doctrine, but some areas have access effectively blocked by private owners for a long distance.[190]
Amusement parks, especially in the Greater Orlando area, make up a significant portion of tourism. The Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited vacation resort in the world with over 50 million annual visitors, consisting of four theme parks, 27 themed resort hotels, 9 non–Disney hotels, two water parks, four golf courses and other recreational venues.[191] Other major theme parks in the area include Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa.

Agriculture and fishing

Oranges in Florida.
Agriculture is the second largest industry in the state. Citrus fruit, especially oranges, are a major part of the economy, and Florida produces the majority of citrus fruit grown in the United States. In 2006, 67% of all citrus, 74% of oranges, 58% of tangerines, and 54% of grapefruit were grown in Florida. About 95% of commercial orange production in the state is destined for processing (mostly as orange juice, the official state beverage).[192]
Citrus canker continues to be an issue of concern. From 1997 to 2013, the growing of citrus trees has declined 25%, from 600,000 acres (240,000 ha) to 450,000 acres (180,000 ha). Citrus greening disease is incurable. A study states that it has caused the loss of $4.5 billion between 2006 and 2012. As of 2014, it was the major agricultural concern.[193]
Other products include sugarcane, strawberries, tomatoes and celery.[194] The state is the largest producer of sweet corn and green beans for the U.S.[195]
The Everglades Agricultural Area is a major center for agriculture. The environmental impact of agriculture, especially water pollution, is a major issue in Florida today.
In 2009, fishing was a $6 billion industry, employing 60,000 jobs for sports and commercial purposes.[196]

Industry

The Miami Civic Center has the second-largest concentration of medical and research facilities in the United States.[197]
Florida is the leading state for sales of power boats. There were $1.96 billion worth of boats sold in 2013.[198]

Mining

Phosphate mining, concentrated in the Bone Valley, is the state's third-largest industry. The state produces about 75% of the phosphate required by farmers in the United States and 25% of the world supply, with about 95% used for agriculture (90% for fertilizer and 5% for livestock feed supplements) and 5% used for other products.[199]
After the watershed events of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the state of Florida began investing in economic development through the Office of Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development. Governor Jeb Bush realized that watershed events such as Andrew negatively impacted Florida's backbone industry of tourism severely. The office was directed to target Medical/Bio-Sciences among others. Three years later, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced it had chosen Florida for its newest expansion. In 2003, TSRI announced plans to establish a major science center in Palm Beach, a 364,000 square feet (33,800 m2) facility on 100 acres (40 ha), which TSRI planned to occupy in 2006.[200]
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Economy

In the twentieth century, tourism, industry, construction, international banking, biomedical and life sciences, healthcare research, simulation training, aerospace and defense, and commercial space travel have contributed to the state's economic development.[citation needed]
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Florida in 2010 was $748 billion.[165] Its GDP is the fourth largest economy in the United States.[166] In 2010, it became the fourth largest exporter of trade goods.[167] The major contributors to the state's gross output in 2007 were general services, financial services, trade, transportation and public utilities, manufacturing and construction respectively. In 2010–11, the state budget was $70.5 billion, having reached a high of $73.8 billion in 2006–07.[168] Chief Executive Magazine name Florida the third "Best State for Business" in 2011.[169]
The economy is driven almost entirely by its nineteen metropolitan areas. In 2004, they had a combined total of 95.7% of the state's domestic product.[170]

Personal income

See also: Florida locations by per capita income
In 2011, Florida's per capita personal income was $39,563, ranking 27th in the nation.[171] In February 2011, the state's unemployment rate was 11.5%.[172] Florida is one of seven states that do not impose a personal income tax.
Florida's constitution establishes a state minimum wage that (unique among minimum wage laws) is adjusted for inflation annually. As of January 1, 2015, Florida's minimum wage was $5.03 for tipped positions, and $8.05 for non-tipped positions, which was higher than the federal rate of $7.25.[173]
Florida has 4 cities in the top 25 cities in the U.S. with the most credit card debt.[174] The state also had the second-highest credit card delinquency rate, with 1.45% of cardholders in the state more than 90 days delinquent on one or more credit cards.[175]
There were 2.4 million Floridians living in poverty in 2008. 18.4% of children 18 and younger were living in poverty.[176] Miami is the sixth poorest big city in the United States.[177] In 2010, over 2.5 million Floridians were on food stamps, up from 1.2 million in 2007. To qualify, Floridians must make less than 133% of the federal poverty level, which would be under $29,000 for a family of four.[178]

Real estate

In the early 20th century, land speculators discovered Florida, and businessmen such as Henry Plant and Henry Flagler developed railroad systems, which led people to move in, drawn by the weather and local economies. From then on, tourism boomed, fueling a cycle of development that overwhelmed a great deal of farmland.
Because of the collective effect on the insurance industry of the hurricane claims of 2004, homeowners insurance has risen 40% to 60% and deductibles have risen.[59]
At the end of the third quarter in 2008, Florida had the highest mortgage delinquency rate in the U.S., with 7.8% of mortgages delinquent at least 60 days.[175] A 2009 list of national housing markets that were hard hit in the real estate crash included a disproportionate number in Florida.[179] The early 21st-century building boom left Florida with 300,000 vacant homes in 2009, according to state figures.[180] In 2009, the US Census Bureau estimated that Floridians spent an average 49.1% of personal income on housing-related costs, the third highest percentage in the U.S.[181]
In the third quarter of 2009, there were 278,189 delinquent loans, 80,327 foreclosures.[182] Sales of existing homes for February 2010 was 11,890, up 21% from the same month in 2009. Only two metropolitan areas showed a decrease in homes sold: Panama City and Brevard County. The average sales price for an existing house was $131,000, 7% decrease from the prior year.[183][dubious – discuss]

Tourism

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