Demographics
Demographic shares based on age and race/ethnicity reveal the makeup of a region’s population. This can be used as contextual information when paired with other education metrics to evaluate both performance and outcomes for residents and identify opportunities to improve access and reduce gaps across the state.
When evaluating Florida’s demographic charts, the size of a shaded area represents population share; pay attention to how these shares shift over time, revealing shifting population characteristics.
The Age option in the Disaggregation filter reveals three colors, blue (0-14), green (15-44), orange (45+). These represent age cohorts that can contextualize postsecondary education and workforce pool. As these cohorts grow or shrink, potential postsecondary students, workforce reserve, and demand on the economy should all be considered.
Population & Annual Growth
Population is examined two ways, total population of Florida counties, and population growth – expressed as an annual rate of change. This can aid in approximating workforce opportunities and economic trends. In aggregate, Florida’s 2024 population of 23.4M ranked third nationally, and the growth rate of 2.04% between 2023 and 2024 ranked 2nd only to D.C. among the United States and Puerto Rico. Florida’s largest counties by population in 2024 are: Miami-Dade (2,838,461), Broward (2,037,472), Palm Beach (1,582,055), and Hillsborough (1,581,426). Florida counties that experienced the largest growth rate from 2023-2024 are Lafayette (5.5%), Osceola (4.7%), Hendry (4.6%), and Hamilton (4.5%).
Job Growth
Supplementing Population and demographic information, Annual Job Growth reveals the number of new employment opportunities in a region, represented as an annual rate of change and a net count of jobs arriving or leaving a region. An important consideration when analyzing rate: the larger the job market is in a region, the more difficult it becomes to show a high annual growth rate.
The net job change leaders in the state of Florida over the period from 2018-2023 include the same counties as total population: Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach. When considering average annual job growth rate, Sumter, St. Johns, Gadsden, and Walton lead the state.
