south florida

Metro area in extreme southeast Florida; the most populated urban area in the state, it stretches roughly 100 miles from Palm Beach County in the north to Miami-Dade County in the south, with about 5.4 million year-round residents. All 3 counties are incredibly densely populated because development is limited to a thin strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades. Miami is the largest city in South Florida; other important cities include Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach. Generally disliked/hated on by the rest of the state for a variety of reasons, some logical (crime, high housing costs, bad schools, sprawl, rude drivers) and others not so logical (high levels of racial diversity, blend of cultures, pro-growth attitude, general wealth/prosperity). Demographically not that much different from a city of the Northeast (except for Miami-Dade, which has majority foreign influences), it is the most "northern" of the state's metro areas and basically the entire opposite of the Florida Panhandle. Major center for tourism, trade, finance, business, and international commerce.