[Ghaati]

I wish they'd send more Latin flavor up here to the Villages. I'm grateful I found a genuine taqueria this past year, and now happily drive 20 minutes away from home every two weeks for two carne asada tacos with onion and cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a squirt of the red sauce. That and a bottle of mandarin Jaritto sets me back $6.50 plus tip. It's not a restaurant, it's a taco truck that stays in a single lot with a canopy over some picnic tables. Pretty sure the family who owns the truck also owns the house and sheds in the back of the lot. You can tell it's good food because that's where all the Mexican construction workers come for lunch every day.

[Outer_Bluegrass]

Originally Posted by Jcmoney

Fascinating topic. I’ve lived in Florida for a year and a half (from Atlanta). The state is very transient and has a constant flow of tourists and snowbirds here from up north. More of the state is Southern than people on this thread are admitting. You can’t really segment the whole state into these exclusive regional and ethnic cultures. Most of the northern influence is limited to the coast whether it’s Sarasota or Palm Beach or wherever. Once you venture inland within these same counties, it gets more native Floridian/Southern. All the major cities are diverse, but not devoid of Southern culture. People tend to forget the native African American population that is Southern as well. It’ll always be transient especially because of the retirees, but honestly they’re only here temporarily living out the rest of their lives. The natives will always be here.

Even in the Florida Heartland, a region that consists of all inland counties in southern Florida, as well as adjacent areas of coastal counties (e.g., Belle Glade and Pahokee in Palm Beach County and Immokalee in Collier County), you do not meet very many Florida natives. In 2023, more than half of the people who live in the Florida Heartland are undocumented migrant workers and their children.

As you may observe in the linked map, most of the inland counties in southern Florida are still light-colored, which indicates a low share of county residents were born in the same state: https://www.ncdemography.org/wp-cont...n-in-State.png.

[greaterorlandomiami1734]

Originally Posted by espizarro

Florida has kind of four cultures in one state, for what I can see it's, more or less, as follows:

Midwestern Florida: SW Florida and Tampa Bay
Northeastern Florida: Central Florida and all of the east except for Miami-Dade
Southern Florida: The entire panhandle, North Central Florida and the west coast north of Tampa Bay (including Pasco and Hernando counties)
Latin American Florida: Duh... Obvious isn't it?

And then you have the Keys which is kind of unique in Florida.

Agree or disagree?

This is how I would personally assess it, as of 2024:
Midwestern FL: Basically the same as what you said
Northeast FL: The entire eastern coast from Palm Beach county to about Flagler county. Also the entirety of greater Orlando.
Southern FL: This is probably the most tricky one, but Id say the whole panhandle, extreme northern central florida (think ocala and northward) and the atlantic coast from St. Johns county northward. Volusia and Flagler counties are a sort of transient zone between the deep south and the northeastern culture that dominates from Brevard county southward.
Latin FL: Miami-Dade county, however it continues to spread throughout south and central florida. Id even add much of Broward county to this at this point. Very large Latin communities also exist in the Orlando area.
As for the keys, I am not familiar enough with them to make a complete assesment, but it does seem to attract of northeastern retirees.

[FL_Expert]

Two points of disagreement…

1. The interior of South Florida (Glades, Highlands, Etc. Counties) are Southern, but a somewhat different version of what you get in North Florida.
2. I’ve thought of Midwestern Florida as Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties. I’m not so sure what I’d qualify the rest of SW Florida as, if it even truly has an identity at all.

[Karl Lagos]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

I wish they'd send more Latin flavor up here to the Villages. I'm grateful I found a genuine taqueria this past year, and now happily drive 20 minutes away from home every two weeks for two carne asada tacos with onion and cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a squirt of the red sauce. That and a bottle of mandarin Jaritto sets me back $6.50 plus tip. It's not a restaurant, it's a taco truck that stays in a single lot with a canopy over some picnic tables. Pretty sure the family who owns the truck also owns the house and sheds in the back of the lot. You can tell it's good food because that's where all the Mexican construction workers come for lunch every day.

LOL there's a Mexican restaurant right inside the Villages and 5 or 6 others right off of 441. If you lived there you would know that.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by vaughanwilliams

West Pasco and West Hernando is chock full of New Yorkers. Probably the most numerous species there.

Yes, there are clusters like that. Another one is Ohio State. Years ago, it was said that their highest concentration of alumni in the southeast region was near Naples, FL.

As a guy from AZ who lived in FL for 13+ years, I can tell you that I knew other Arizonans who moved to Central FL near Orlando or the I-4 corridor.