2012 City Population Estimates Released

[Ocklawaha]

...people hear fowling the air...

Man Fowling The Air

I want to see this!

[IronDonut]

Or you say at a million people - because thats enough and you concentrate on building a better city and not a bigger city?

The end game with bigger is LA. I don't know if you've ever tried to get from point A to point B in LA or inhaled their pristine crisp clean air... the place isn't exactly a paradise.

Because if you dont grow and everyone else does, you get left behind

[thelakelander]

While I agree that we should be concentrating on building a better city and not a bigger one, it is desirable to have sustainable growth as opposed to decline.  Unfortunately, we have not reached that point yet.

[thelakelander]

Here's the population of all Florida cities 100,000 and above, along with  the amount of growth in each since 2010.  I included Lakeland, since its estimate was 99,999.

836,507 - Jacksonville (+14,723)

413,892 - Miami (+14,435)

347,645 - Tampa (+11,936)

249,562 - Orlando (+11,262)

246,541 - St. Petersburg (+1,772)

231,941 - Hialeah (+7,272)

186,971 - Tallahassee (+5,595)

170,747 - Fort Lauderdale (+5,226)

168,716 - Port St. Lucie (+4,113)

161,248 - Cape Coral (+6,943)

160,306 - Pembroke Pines (+5,556)

145,236 - Hollywood (+4,468)

128,729 - Miramar (+6,688)

126,047 - Gainesville (+1,693)

125,287 - Coral Springs (+4,191)

110,754 - Miami Gardens (+3,587)

108,732 - Clearwater (+1,047)

104,124 - Palm Bay (+934)

102,984 - Pompano Beach (+4,139)

101,903 - West Palm Beach (+1,984)

99,999 - Lakeland (+2,577)

[Ocklawaha]

It appears we are actually doing much better then our sister cities here in Florida, only 246,541 - St. Petersburg (+1,772)
231,941 - Hialeah (+7,272), added more people then Jacksonville.

[thelakelander]

No Florida city added more people than Jacksonville.  However, no city has 747 square miles of land area either.  Miami added 288 people less than us but all of that was stuffed into 35 square miles of land area.  It's also well known our state was one of the hardest hit during the height of the recession. Some cities actually lost population a few years back.  It's good to see the state finally rebounding.

[tufsu1]

the rate of growth is more telling than pure numbers....for example, Tampa grew at 3.4% while Jax. grew at half that

[thelakelander]

^Except the rate of growth can also skewed by the land area of a municipality and differing built environments within those places.  Did metropolitan Tampa-St. Pete grow at 3.4% or did Tampa grow at that rate due to a rapidly growing suburban area like New Tampa being in city limits?  Assuming Tampa was in a situation where it merged with Hillsborough, it's possible the growth rate would drop because of slow, stagnant or declining growth in rural and older suburban areas.  I believe this applies for both Tampa and Orlando.  Especially an Orlando, which has annexed the airport and Medical City but continues to not add OBT to its limits, despite OBT virtually being an inner city neighborhood.

On the other hand, I find what's happening in Miami very impressive.  We know for a fact that those 14,000 new residents were all infill urban growth.  By the same token, it's interesting to see that this growth is also taking place in adjacent compact urban centers like Miami Beach and Hialeah as well.

[Tacachale]

Locally, I think we can expect to see see much lower growth in Duval than the surrounding counties as long as St. Johns (and to an extent Clay) continue to outcompete the Duval suburbs, most importantly in the schools.

[tufsu1]

Assuming Tampa was in a situation where it merged with Hillsborough, it's possible the growth rate would drop because of slow, stagnant or declining growth in rural and older suburban areas.

Unincorporated Hillsborough County is also growing pretty rapidly

[thelakelander]

but former boomburgs like Carrollwood and the central parts of Brandon (our versions of Baymeadows and Normandy) are either stagnant or slightly losing population now. However, they just happen to not fall within Tampa's city limits. Tampa has some inner city areas doing okay but the lion's share of growth is occurring in New Tampa.

[tufsu1]

^ and the exurban areas of southeastern Hillsborough County

[simms3]

On the other hand, I find what's happening in Miami very impressive.  We know for a fact that those 14,000 new residents were all infill urban growth.  By the same token, it's interesting to see that this growth is also taking place in adjacent compact urban centers like Miami Beach and Hialeah as well.

I'd love more details as to the nature of the growth in Miami.  It's my understanding that the bulk of new construction in Miami and South FL remains luxury for sale condos in coastal areas, some affordable housing projects in north/central Miami, and tourist-driven retail and mega-projects in the coastal areas.  I don't see young 18-32 year old college grads and young professionals flocking to South FL like they are currently flocking to a few markets in TX, CA, WA, DC and other more traditional education-based employment centers.  I believe it's still flight money/investment home buyers tied to foreign residents and northern residents making Miami their primary, even if they don't live there year round.

Otherwise I think you'd hear more "employment" announcements (not related to service industry) and corporate announcements tied to Miami, and actual office construction, versus the luxury high rise communities still sprouting up like weeds that cater to a different clientele.

[thelakelander]

It would be interesting.  I'm surprised Hialeah has grown by +7k in two years after slightly dropping in population during the last decade.  There are also a ton of smaller South Florida cities in the 75-90k range putting together some decent numbers as well.

[tufsu1]

Miami does just fine in attracting/keeping millenials