Poor, poor Miami

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So it turns out that the Census Bureau has declared my hometown of Miami the “poorest big city” in the nation. According to that agency, 28.5 percent of the population there is living in poverty. This figure did not jive with the reality I experienced living there for the first 23 years of my life. Something that also didn’t jive was the idea that Cuban immigration had anything to do with increasing poverty, as suggested by the Miami New Times–the city’s “alternative weekly.” Being half-Cuban, I’m acutely aware that Cubans did nothing if not turn metropolitan Miami into an international center of trade and prosperity from the swamp it once was.

Then I realized (and I’m not sure too many other people have) that it is the City of Miami they are talking about. Not Miami. Allow me to explain.

What most people think of when they think of Miami is Miami-Dade County; the huge metropolis of almost 2.5 million people that is larger in area than Rhode Island or Delaware. This is the Miami that includes Miami Beach and the Everglades. Miami-Dade County has a mayor and a commission that are the truly powerful regional government. It is then divided up into “cities” like Miami Beach, Hialeah, Homestead, Coral Gables, North Miami, South Miami, West Miami, Miami Lakes, Miami Shores, etc.

The City of Miami is one of those municipalities and has a population of 362,470. Granted the City of Miami includes Downtown Miami and the skyline we all now and love, but the calculation the Census has used is akin to only taking Southeast Washington into consideration when tallying the poverty of D.C. Additionally, government-calculated poverty lines often mean little. So no, Miami is not the poorest big city in the nation.

Sep 29, 2002 | Comments

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2 comments posted

  1. Posted by A.D. - 11/17/2003

    What most people think of when they think of Miami is Miami-Dade County; the huge metropolis of almost 2.5 million people…

    Is this your opinion or based on research? “Miami” I am sure signifies just Miami, no more, no less. And once upon a time there existed the Everglades, a phenomenon much more than “just a swamp”. Then there was no crime.

    Miami by statistics: http://miamifl.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm

  2. Posted by Jerry Brito - 11/17/2003

    Well, I guess it’s based on research if living there for 23 years counts. Plus see http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/stout12.gif

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