10 Fastest Growing Cities in Florida

Rabeeta Abbas
9 min read

In This Article:

In this article, we list and discuss the 10 Fastest Growing Cities in Florida. If you would like to skip our detailed discussion of the topic, you can go directly to the top 5 Fastest Growing Cities in Florida.

With a population of over 22.6 million people according to the 2023 Census data, Florida is the third most populous state in the US. At the same time, it is also one of the fastest-growing ones. For the years to come, the Demographic Estimating Conference forecasts that the state’s population will grow to an average of 1.25% per year between 2023 and 2030. Compared to the national average, which stands at 0.43% a year, Florida’s growth rate is expected to be 0.82% higher.  

A quick look at the history of Florida’s population growth statistics confirms further that the state’s growth has always been consistent and positive. In the 1950s, the state’s annual growth averaged 6.1%, and in the next two years (1956-57), it averaged 8%. During these years, the country’s national growth average ranged between 1.5% to 2%, however, a growth of 8% in Florida set the state apart as the fastest-growing one. In the 1960s, following the baby boom, the growth rates in Florida somewhat slowed down. Despite that, the state continued to see an annual average population growth rate of 3% between 1960 and 1989. 

Similarly, in the 2000s, the population in Florida continued to grow at a “slow” annual rate of 1.7%, while the national average stood at only 1%. Between 2010 and 2020, the national average growth rate fell from 0.9% to 0.5%, but Florida’s rate ranged between 1% and 2%. Between 2021 and 2022, the Census Bureau reported that Florida reached a growth rate of 1.9% a year, and had once again, become the fastest-growing state in the US. 

During all these years, Florida’s growth has been closely linked to net migration. In the years to come, this stance will remain as is — the state is not forecasted to have a natural increase in population. The Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) reported that between 2020 and 2023, although the state saw more deaths than births, it also welcomed almost 1.1 million net new residents. Overall, Florida’s population growth is mainly driven by the movement of permanent US residents from across different states to Florida. In turn, this net migration is fueled by employment opportunities in the state as well as personal income growth.

The EDR Economic Overview for Florida reported that the Pandemic supported personal income growth in the state, due to the infusion of federal dollars into the state’s households. In the fiscal year 2020-21, the state’s personal income growth stood at 10.3%, and for 2021-22, it stood at 6.6%. In the fiscal year 2022-23, this figure grew to 7.9%. According to the EDR, this acceleration in growth rates resulted from the “workers and employers chasing high levels of inflation and leveraging tight labor market into better-paying opportunities.”

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