Florida’s population is increasing faster in 2013 than it has in six years. For the first time since 2007, the state is growing by 1% annually. During the ‘Great Recession’, Florida's population growth dropped from nearly 3% per year to 0.5%.
State economist Amy Baker says more growth is expected, but the boom of the '90's and early 2000's will likely never happen again.
"We were seeing growth that was three percent a year, plus", Baker said. "That was equivalent to adding a city the size of Miami to Florida’s population every year."
Currently, Florida has a population of about 19.3 million, up 200,000 residents from 2012. The increase is a combination of more births than deaths, and new people who are moving into the state looking for work.
Florida is expected to surpass 20 million residents in 2016, and become the third largest state in the country.