Central Florida growth Continues.

Broward adds 154,000 people from 2000 to 2005, many from abroadby robin benedick South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted March 16 2006

Newcomers continue to pour into Broward County, but new U.S. Census estimates released today show Florida's biggest growth is shifting to counties in central and northern Florida.Broward, home to almost 1.8 million people, ranked ninth in the nation in sheer numbers growth from April 2000 to July 2005. It increased by 154,620 people -- more than the population of Pembroke Pines, the county's second largest city.
A third of those newcomers came from abroad, the data show. On the other hand, Miami-Dade County had more than half of its new residents arrive from abroad; in Palm Beach County, it was 20 percent.Scholars say two main factors are driving the growth of Broward County's immigrant population. One is a direct influx of middle-class foreign nationals.The other is the arrival of former Miami-Dade County residents moving up the socio-economic ladder.Alex Stepick, director of the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute at Florida International University in Miami, said the migration from foreign countries is led by Jamaicans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Colombians."People moving directly to Broward are primarily the ones who are relatively well off in their home countries, and once a settlement gets started, it grows really rapidly," Stepick said. He referred to places such as Weston, which emerged in recent years as a Venezuelan enclave."We come here to live well and prosper. We're not going to stay in one place if a better life awaits us someplace else. In Broward, there's a higher quality of life that's more affordable to the immigrant. It's easier here to move up the social hierarchy than it is in Miami," said Luz de Abril, founder of Mission for Colombia in Cooper City.From July 1, 2004 to July 1, 2005, Broward gained 24,638 residents, placing it 16th on the national growth list.But Broward was not the only county in Florida to see major growth. The state had 22 counties among the top 100 in numerical growth during the past year, including Palm Beach [17th] and Miami-Dade [27th]. It also had 15 counties among the 100 fastest growing by percentage. That's more than any other state.At this pace, Florida is expected to bump New York as the third most populous state in 2011.Helping the state reach that milestone will be less populous areas that offer less expensive housing and less crowded roads and schools. They include Flagler County, between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, which recorded the nation's greatest percentage growth last year. Other Florida counties on the top 100 list by percentage include St. Lucie, Sumter, Wakulla and St. Johns.In the coming years, growth in Broward "is going to slow, but it's not going to stop,'' predicted Bill Leonard, Broward's senior planner, because the county is fast running out of room for new homes.If Broward continues to add 25,000 people each year, it would have more than 2 million people in fewer than 10 years.To view the Census data, go to www.census.gov.