Major Issues in Florida State - Research Paper Example

The hottest temperature (43 C) occurred on June 29, 1931, in Monticello, while the coldest occurred on February 13, 1899, 25 miles away in Tallahassee. Average temperatures for late July are between 32-35 C, whereas average temperatures for late January are between (4-7C) in northern Florida and to an average of 13C in southern Florida.

In 2007, Florida’s population was 18,251,243. The population increased by 321, 647, or 1.8% from 2005. Florida is expanding by an average of 26,803 every month, 6700 every week, and 975 daily. Additionally, Florida is the third-fastest-growing state5. However, in 2000 the Germans possesses 11.8% of Florida’s population, the Irish 10.3%, the English 9.2%, the Americans 8%, the Italian 6.3%, the French 2.8%, the Polish 2.7%, and the Scottish 1.8%.

In 2000 76.91% of the residents age 5 and older only spoke English at home as their primary language; whereas 16.46% spoke Spanish and French-based creole languages were communicated by 1.38% of the population. Moreover, French was spoken by 0.83%, German by 0.59%, and Italian by 0.44% of all residents. The public education system of Florida researched that over 200 first languages other than English are spoken in the homes of students.

The main religion is Christian (81% of the population), followed by Jewish (4%) and 1% believe in other religions while 14% are non-religious.

The GDP of Florida reached $713.5 billion in 2006, making it the fourth largest economy in the United States. Personal income arrived at $36,665, thus ranking the 20th. This is largely created by high tourism levels. Warm weather and many beaches draw about 60 million tourists every year. The second largest industry is created agriculture; especially due to producing citrus fruit. It produces 67% of all citrus in the US in 200610. The third largest industry is formed by phosphate mining. It produces 75% of the phosphate required by farmers in the United States and 25% of the world's supply.

Opa-Locka is a 4.5 square miles city residing in Miami-Dade County, Florida. 4.3 square miles of it is land while 0.1 square miles is water. Moreover, the population in 2000 reached 14,951 and increased to 15, 327 in 2004.

The city was developed by Glenn Curtis and the name “Opa-Locka” is a contraction of “Opa-tisha-woka-locka”, which means “The high land north of the little river on which there is a camping place”.

In 2000 there were 14,951 people, 4890 households, and 3,437 families living in the city. The city contains 22.83% White (3.1% Non-Hispanic Whites), 69.64% Black or African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.6% other races, and 3.35% from two or more races.

Out of the 4890 households, 41.2% of them had children under the age of 18 residing with them, 28.4% were married couples living together, 35.2% were female householders with no husbands and 29.7% had no families. Regularly, the household size was 2.97, whereas the average family size was 3.52.

The total population is constructed of 34.6% under the age of 18, 12.3% from the age of 18 until 24, 26.8% from the age of 25 until 44, 17,7% between 45 and 64 years of age, and 8.5% were 65 years or older. In fact, for every 100 females, there were 85.6 males and for every 100 females who were 18 or older, there were 77.1 males.

The average income for a household in the city reached $19,631, while the median income for a family was $22,742.

Nevertheless, income for women was lower compared to men, since females earned $19,270 on averagely compared with $22,347 for males.

Although the per capita income for the city arrived at $9,538, still about 31.5% of families and 35.2% of the population belonged below the poverty line, including 42.3% who are under the age of 18 and 40.8% of those aged 65 or over.

In 2000 68.44% of the population considered English as their primary language, whereas Spanish was spoken by 28.29% of residents and French Creole was communicated among 2.77% of the population.