Florida Retirement Buzz

In a press release dated June 30, 2005, Port St. Lucie, Florida was cited as the fastest growing large city in the nation between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004 by the U. S. Census Bureau. Large cities are defined as having a population of 100,000 or more. Additionally, two other Florida cities were on the list of the 10 fastest growing U. S. cities in this category. They are Cape Coral (ranked fifth) and Miramar (ranked eighth). The total number of cities ranked in this category was 251. The percent increases for Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral and Miramar were 12, 7.6, and 5.3 respectively.

Port St. Lucie is located along the East Coast of Florida between Cape Canaveral and West Palm Beach. However, it has no coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and only a tiny amount of territory on the Indian River Lagoon. It has seen constant growth for the last twenty years, mainly between Route 1 and Interstate 95. Since it is a relatively new city, it has no “charming, quaint old city center” as the tourist guidebooks like to state. It is the spring training home to the New York Mets and also features a mega-sized golf complex operated by the PGA. Many of the nation’s largest builders have been and continue to be active in the area building homes and communities in all price ranges.

Cape Coral is located in Lee County on the West Coast of Florida near Fort Myers and between Sarasota and Marco Island. It was incorporated in 1970 and at 114 square miles it is the second largest city in the state of Florida. In regards to population, it is the 11th largest city in Florida. It has been described as a “waterfront wonderland” with over 400 miles of waterways, more than in Venice, Italy. Sounds like a boater’s haven! One might also say that it has a balanced demographic in that while 18 percent of the residents are over 65, there are 13% in the 6-13 age bracket. If you are a new retiree that is trying to entice one or more of your children to migrate to Florida with you, Cape Coral should be high on your list of cities to investigate.

Miramar is due west of Hollywood on the East Coast just south of Fort Lauderdale and is the second largest city in Broward County. Its original developers visualized it as a “bedroom community” for Miami and Fort Lauderdale. From the time of its founding to the present, Miramar has been a family-oriented community with many social and athletic activities planned for all age groups. Detailed demographic data for all of the cities discussed here can be found at http://www.city-data.com/.

It is interesting to note that these three high growth cities are in areas that already had some of the highest population densities in the state. Also, the fact that Florida cities garnered three of the top ten spots emphasizes the continuing high rate of migration to the Sunshine State.