Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But the truth is, most immigrants to the state (whether from within the US or abroad)
are aged 20 to 30, and they don't come for the early-bird buffet. They come because of
Florida's historically low cost of living and its usually robust job and real-estate markets.
When times are good, what they find is that there are plenty of low- to mid-wage con-
struction, tourist and service-sector jobs, and if they can buy one of those new-built condos
or tract homes, they're money ahead, as Florida home values usually outpace the nation's.
But in bad times when real estate falters - and in Florida, no matter how many warnings
people get, the real-estate market does eventually falter - home values plummet, construc-
tion jobs dry up and service-sector wages can't keep up with the bills. Thus, those 20- to
30-year-olds also leave the state in the highest numbers.
In recent years, the growing wealth gap in America has made it increasingly difficult for
middle-income earners to afford rent (let alone a mortgage) in Florida's growing urban
areas. While businesses have always been able to fall back on cheap migrant labor from
Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, there has also usually been an accom-
panying nucleus of lifer service-industry professionals. Said professionals are increasingly
finding Florida unaffordable, though, which bears the question: how can a state that is sup-
ported by tourism survive without folks who can afford what the tourism industry pays?
Florida's urban and rural divides are extreme. Urban sprawl, particularly around Miami,
Orlando and Tampa, is universally loathed - because who likes traffic jams and cookie-
cutter sameness? Well, some folks like the sameness; Florida wouldn't be famous for her
suburbs and shopping malls if people didn't occupy them. In addition new immigrants tend
to gravitate to the suburbs - the green lawns predictably rejected by so many Americans
seeking a new urbanism are seen as signs of a high quality of life for émigrés from Haiti
and Cuba. In any case, almost everyone really does have a tan. It's nearly unavoidable:
80% of Floridians live within 10 miles of the coast because that's why everyone came -
the beach.
So, along the peninsula's urbanized edges, everyone rubs up against each other: racial,
ethnic and class tensions are a constant fact of life, but they have also calmed tremend-
ously in recent decades. In general, tolerance (if not acceptance) of diversity is the norm,
while tolerance of visitors is the rule. After all, they pay the bills.
But wilderness and rural life define much of interior and northern Florida: here, small
working-class towns can be as white, old-fashioned and conservative as Miami is mul-
tiracial, gaudy and permissive. This is one reason why it's so hard to predict Florida elec-
tions, and why sometimes they turn on a handful of votes.
