Culture of Florida

The culture of Florida is similar to the rest of United States of America culture, but as a coastal state, Florida culture has been influenced by immigrant populations, especially those from Europe and Latin America. Florida is a melting pot as well as an international crossroad to the United States.

As one of the Southern states, Florida has long been influenced by Southern culture. Although South Florida and urban Central Florida has largely lost its southern accents, southern food and southern culture, southern culture remains prominent in North Florida and parts of rural Central Florida. More recently the state has been influenced by the cultures of people moving in from foreign countries and other parts of the United States. Florida culture is also influenced by its economy, most notably from the effects of tourism, a highly important industry in the state.

Florida Population Density Map

Also, as one of the New Spain states, it shares history, culture, food and other things with the Spanish, especially Cuban and Puerto Rican.

Cuisine

Florida is known for several unique foods including key lime pie and Floribbean cuisine. Citrus production is a major industry and citrus fruits are widely consumed.

Economic trends

Current trends in the state of Florida include a rapidly growing population in excess of four hundred thousand annually. The state government is embracing the increasing peoples by mandating new libraries, schools and highways to be thoroughly completed. Demographically, Florida has an older population in the Northwestern counties; where a lot of retired people migrate every year. However, Southern Florida is broadly urban with a large youth population and many college campuses that are dependent on tourism. The budgetary decisions taken by the federal government has a severe impact on the population fluctuations in the southern parts of Florida.^[1]

Languages

As of 2005, 74.54 percent of Florida residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a first language, while 18.65 percent spoke Spanish, and 1.73 percent of the population spoke French Creole (predominantly Haitian Creole). French was spoken by 0.63 percent, followed by German at 0.45 percent, and Portuguese at 0.44 percent of all residents. Also, Italian comprised 0.32 percent, while Tagalog made up 0.30 percent of speakers, Vietnamese was at 0.25 percent and Arabic at 0.23 percent. In all, 25.45 percent of Florida's population age 5 and older spoke a language other than English.^[2]

Florida's public education system identifies over 200 first languages other than English spoken in the homes of students. In 1990, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) won a class action lawsuit against the state Florida Department of Education that required educators to be trained in teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

Music

Main article: Music of Florida

Florida is home to several unique music genres including Florida breaks and Miami Bass.

Religion

Florida is mostly Protestant, but Roman Catholicism is the single largest denomination in the state. There is also a sizable Jewish community, located mainly in South Florida. Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:^[3]

Protestant, 40%
- Baptist, 9%
- Methodist, 6%
- Pentecostal, 3%
Roman Catholic, 26%
Jewish, 3%
other religions, 3%
non-religious, 10%

Sports and recreation

Main article: Florida § Sports

Sports in Florida include professional teams in all major sports, many minor league professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.

The state has teams in each of the four major professional sports leagues: there are three National Football League (NFL) teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Miami Dolphins, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays; two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic; and two National Hockey League (NHL) teams, the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Additionally, Major League Soccer is expanding in Florida, adding Orlando City SC in 2015, and plans to add a Miami team.

Florida also has an abundance of outdoor recreational activities. Outdoor activities include hiking, surfing, and hunting. Notable auto-racing tracks include: Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Sebring International Raceway, Streets of St. Petersburg, and Walt Disney World Speedway.

References

State of Florida

Tallahassee (capital)

Topics	Climate Delegations Environment Floridians Geography Geology Government History Law State parks Transportation Visitor attractions

Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics

Regions	Big Bend Central Florida Emerald Coast First Coast Florida Heartland Florida Keys Florida Panhandle Forgotten Coast Glades Gold Coast Halifax area Nature Coast North Central Florida North Florida Northeast Florida South Florida Southwest Florida Space Coast Suncoast Tampa Bay Area Treasure Coast

Metro areas	Cape Coral–Fort Myers Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach Fort Walton Beach–Crestview–Destin Gainesville Jacksonville Lakeland–Winter Haven Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Naples–Marco Island North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Ocala Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville West Palm Beach-Boca Raton Panama City–Lynn Haven–Panama City Beach Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent Port St. Lucie Punta Gorda Sebastian–Vero Beach Tallahassee Tampa-St. Petersburg–Clearwater

Largest cities	Jacksonville Miami Tampa West Palm Beach St. Petersburg Orlando Hialeah Tallahassee Fort Lauderdale Port St. Lucie Cape Coral Pembroke Pines Hollywood

Counties	Alachua Baker Bay Bradford Brevard Broward Calhoun Charlotte Citrus Clay Collier Columbia DeSoto Dixie Duval Escambia Flagler Franklin Gadsden Gilchrist Glades Gulf Hamilton Hardee Hendry Hernando Highlands Hillsborough Holmes Indian River Jackson Jefferson Lafayette Lake Lee Leon Levy Liberty Madison Manatee Marion Martin Miami‑Dade Monroe Mosquito (1824-1844) Nassau Okaloosa Okeechobee Orange Osceola Palm Beach Pasco Pinellas Polk Putnam Santa Rosa Sarasota Seminole St. Johns St. Lucie Sumter Suwannee Taylor Union Volusia Wakulla Walton Washington

Culture of the United States

Culture by city or metropolitan area	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cincinnati Dallas Detroit Houston Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York City Brooklyn Omaha Philadelphia Pittsburgh San Antonio San Diego San Francisco Seattle St. Louis Virginia Beach

Culture by state	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Culture by region	Mid-Atlantic Midwest New England South

Federal district	Washington, D.C.

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