Broward County is one of the three counties that make up theMiami metropolitan area, which is home to 6.14 million people as of 2020. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the entire country.[10] As of 2022, Broward County has agross domestic product of $124.8 billion, the second-largest GDP of Florida's 67 counties and the25th-largest for the nation's 3,033 counties.[11]
The earliest evidence ofNative American settlement in the Miami region came from about 12,000 years ago.[12] The first inhabitants settled on the banks of theMiami River, with the main villages on the northern banks.
The inhabitants at the time of first European contact were theTequesta people, who controlled much of southeastern Florida, including what is nowMiami-Dade County, Broward County, and the southern part ofPalm Beach County. The Tequesta Indians fished, hunted, and gathered the fruit and roots of plants for food, but did not practice any form of agriculture. They buried the small bones of the deceased with the rest of the body, and put the larger bones in a box for the village people to see. The Tequesta are credited with making theMiami Circle.[13]
Throughout his term as governor, Broward championed Everglades drainage and was remembered for his campaign to turn the Everglades into "useful land". This opened up much of today's urban Broward County for development, first as agricultural land and later as residential. A year before Broward became governor, Dania became the first incorporated community of what is now Broward County, followed by Pompano in 1908, and Fort Lauderdale in 1911.
In 1915,Palm Beach andDade counties contributed nearly equal portions of land to create Broward County.[14]
Broward County began a huge development boom after its incorporation, with the first "tourist hotel", inFort Lauderdale, opening in 1919. A year later, developers began dredging wetlands in the county to create island communities.[14]
By 1925, the boom was considered to have reached its peak, but the1926 Miami hurricane caused economic depression in the county.[14] The county saw another population and development boompost-World War II when the transformation from agricultural to urbanized residential area began.
The effects of a national recession hit the county in 1974 and the population growth finally slowed. This is from a peak growth percentage change of 297.9% which saw the population of Broward grow from 83,933 as of1950 to 333,946 in1960.[16] The population subsequently experienced an 85.7% population growth which brought the population to a total of 620,100 in1970.[16]
The structure of the Broward County government was signed into law in 1975 with the passage of the Broward County charter.[14] In the same year, theSeminole Tribe of Florida incorporated as a governing entity and began organizing cigarette sales, bingo and land leases that would bring millions of dollars in annual revenue in later years.[17] In 1976,Interstate 95 was completed through Broward County.
On January 19, 1977, snow fell in South Florida for the first time in recorded history. Snow was seen across all of South Florida as far south asHomestead and even on Miami Beach. Snow was officially reported by weather observers in West Palm Beach, LaBelle, Hollywood, and Royal Palm Ranger Station in southern Miami-Dade County.[18]
In the year 1980, theUS census reported over 1 million people living in Broward County.
In the year 2000, the US census reported a total population of 1,623,018.[20] The town ofSouth West Ranches was incorporated this year.
On March 1, 2005,West Park became Broward County's 31st municipality to be incorporated.[21]
On October 24, 2005,Hurricane Wilma hitSouth Florida leaving the entire area damaged and causing almost universal power outages. Wilma was the most damaging storm in Broward County sinceHurricane King in 1950. Broward experienced wind speeds between 80 and 100 mph (130 and 160 km/h) which endured for about five hours.[22]
On February 14, 2018, the city of Parkland became the scene of adeadly mass shooting perpetrated by a 19-year-old former student ofStoneman Douglas High School. The trial of the perpetrator of the shooting,Nikolas Cruz, was held at the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Broward County in 2022 with JudgeElizabeth Scherer presiding. Cruz was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.[23]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 1,323 square miles (3,430 km2), of which 1,210 square miles (3,100 km2) is land and 113 square miles (290 km2) (8.5%) is water.[26]
Broward County has an average elevation of six feet (1.8 m) above sea level. It is rather new geologically and at the eastern edge of theFlorida Platform, acarbonate plateau created millions of years ago. Broward County is composed ofOolitelimestone while western Broward is composed mostly ofBryozoa.[27] Broward is among the last areas of Florida to be created and populated with fauna and flora, mostly in thePleistocene.
Of developable land in Broward County, approximately 471 square miles (1,219.9 km2), the majority is built upon, as the urban area is bordered by theAtlantic Ocean to the east and the Everglades Wildlife Management Area to the west. Within developable land, Broward County has a population density of 3,740 per square mile (1,444 per square kilometer).
Broward approved the construction ofOsborne Reef, anartificial reef made of tires off the Fort Lauderdale beach, but it has proven to be an environmental disaster.[28]
The Broward CountyCharter provides for a separation between the legislative and administrative functions of government. The Board of County Commissioners is the legislative branch of Broward County Government. The County Commission is composed of nine members elected by district. Commissioners must be a resident of the district where they seek election. Each year the Commission elects amayor andvice mayor. The mayor's functions are primarily ceremonial; serving as presiding officer and as the county's official representative. The Commission appoints the County Administrator, County Attorney and County Auditor. The commission also appoints numerous advisory and regulatory boards.[68]
The County Commission meets in formal session the first four Tuesdays of each month at 10:00 a.m. in Room 422 of the Broward County Governmental Center. Over 507,000 cable subscribers in Broward County have access toGovernment-access television (GATV) coverage of Commission meetings, which are broadcast live beginning at 10:00 a.m. each Tuesday, and rebroadcast at 5:30 p.m. the following Friday. Meetings can also be viewed via webcasting at www.broward.org.
Broward County has been aDemocratic stronghold since1992, voting for the party's presidential nominee in every election since then. It is now considered one of the most reliably Democratic counties in the state,[76][77] still generally voting for Democrats even in statewide landslide losses, in presidential and gubernatorial elections.
It gave greater than 60% support to the Democratic party nominee in every election since1996 until2024. In 2024, Democratic nomineeKamala Harris won below 60% of the vote in the county for the first time since 1992. It had also given DemocratCharlie Crist less than 60% of the vote in the2022 Florida gubernatorial election.
From1948 to1988, the county leanedRepublican, voting for the Republican nominee in every election except1976, even supporting RepublicanBarry Goldwater by a 56–44 margin while he lost the national election in a landslide.
Unlike Miami-Dade County to the south, where many of the immigrants are Republican-leaning Cuban-Americans, Cubans comprise only a small proportion of the immigrant population in Broward County. The county's population is also over 25% African American, a predominantly Democratic-leaning group.
According to the Secretary of State's office, Democrats maintain a plurality among registered voters in Broward County. The county is also one of the few counties in the state where Independents outnumber Republicans.
Broward's code ofordinances consists of resolutions, administrative rules and regulations passed in order to secure a responsive and efficient form of local government.[81]
The county maintains a distinctive rule regarding communication between the county and bidders forcounty contracts, known as theCone of Silence.[82] This rule prevents staff involved in a purchasing process from communicating with bidders from the time when the solicitation is issued, and County Commissioners from the time when bids are opened, until the vote to award the contract or the time when all bids are rejected.[83]
Spirit Airlines relocated its headquarters toDania Beach on April 18, 2024.[88] Prior to that, the airline operated out ofMiramar for 24 years, since December 1999.[89]
TheBroward County Library is one of the largest public library systems in the country, comprising 38 branch locations. There are also five municipal public libraries in the county that are not part of the Broward County Library system: Ethel M. Gordon Oakland Park Library, Lighthouse Point Library, Helen B. Hoffman Plantation Library, Richard C. Sullivan Public Library of Wilton Manors, and Parkland Public Library.
Broward County libraries provide endless amount of resources to the public. For high-schoolers looking to prepare themselves for college, the library offers college readiness &SAT/ACT prep courses. For adults looking to learn computer skills,adult computer classes are also offered. These resources are free of cost, therefore, all it takes is registering to participate. In addition to the many resources offered at the library, bus passes are also sold at most Broward County libraries.[94] If you want to enjoy some of these resources, you can simply download the app to utilize them on the go. There are nine apps available for download: Broward County Library (BCL WoW), Freegal Music, Hoopla, Overdrive, Libby, Axis 360, RBdigital Magazines, Rosetta Stone, and Brainfuse.[95]
Additionally, with 23 miles of beach, Broward County is a popular destination for scuba diving, snorkeling, and droves of youngSpring break tourists from around the world.[100][101]
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport serves as the primary airport of the Broward County area. The airport is bounded by the citiesFort Lauderdale,Hollywood andDania Beach,[86] three miles (4.8 km) southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale and 21 mi (34 km) north of Miami. The airport is near cruise line terminals atPort Everglades and is popular among tourists bound for theCaribbean. Since the late 1990s, FLL has become an intercontinental gateway, althoughMiami International Airport still handles most long-haul flights. FLL is ranked as the 19th busiest airport (in terms of passenger traffic) in the United States, as well as the nation's 14th busiest international air gateway and one of the world's 50 busiest airports. FLL is classified by theUS Federal Aviation Administration as a "major hub" facility serving commercial air traffic. In 2017 the airport processed 32,511,053 passengers[102] (11.3% more than 2016) including 7,183,275 international passengers (18.6% more than 2016).
Astreet grid stretches throughout Broward County. Most of this grid is loosely based on three primary eastern municipalities, (from South to North) Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach. Deerfield Beach—another primary eastern municipality—has its own street grid, as do two smaller municipalities—Dania Beach and Hallandale Beach.
Municipality populations are based on the2020 US census using their QuickFacts with 5,000 residents and above, while municipalities under 5,000 people are based on their US Decennial Census.[106][107]
In the 1980s, the Broward County Commission adopted a policy of having all populated places in the county be part of a municipality.[108] Municipalities were often reluctant to annex neighborhoods which were not projected to yield enough tax revenue to cover the costs of providing services to those neighborhoods.[109] In 2001 the Broward County Legislative Delegation adopted a policy encouraging the annexation of all unincorporated areas in Broward County into municipalities by October 1, 2005.[110] Formerly unincorporated neighborhoods that have been annexed into existing municipalities or combined to form new municipalities as of 2018[update] include:
^Language spoken at home among residents at least five years old; only languages (or language groups) which at least 2% of residents have spoken at any time since 1980 are mentioned
^"Census Counts: 1830-2020".Florida County Population Census Counts: 1830 to 2020. Office of Economic and Demographic Research, The Florida Legislature. 2023.Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. RetrievedJune 14, 2023.
^Cahill, William P.; Jarvis, Robert M. (2010).Out of the Muck: A History of the Broward Sheriff's Office, 1915-2000. Carolina Academic Press.ISBN978-1594605840.
^"Contact UsArchived April 19, 2009, at theWayback Machine." Gulfstream International Airlines. Retrieved on December 17, 2011. "1100 Lee Wagener Blvd, Suite 201 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315."
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