The Deep South — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi — is home to rich histories of strength and resiliency against all odds. Despite this perseverance, residents and communities across the Deep South are still experiencing the far-reaching consequences of funding cuts to vital support programs such as health care, housing, education and public infrastructure. Across the Deep South, people with low incomes are more likely to rely on these programs to meet their basic needs. Indeed, these programmatic cuts place people experiencing poverty — some 13% of residents in Florida — at risk of losing access to doctors, safe and stable housing, and even food simply because they cannot afford it without assistance. Evidence continuously demonstrates that government support is vital to healthy families, communities and ultimately the United States as a whole. As such, there is ample opportunity for policymakers to prioritize people and families that need it most by increasing the infrastructure, income, housing and nutrition support available to residents of the Deep South.
Definitions to know
- In the U.S. Census, AIAN stands for American Indian and Alaska Native.
- The U.S. Census Bureau considers census blocks with more than 2,000 housing units or 5,000 people to be urban, while all other areas are rural.
- Citizen Voting Age Population – includes US citizens who are of voting age (18 years of age or older). This population may include individuals who are ineligible to vote for reasons other than lack of citizenship or who are under 18 years of age and preregistered.
- Disability numbers include both physical and mental difficulties.
- Food insecurity – when people do not have enough to eat or know where their next meal will come from.
- Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical coverage to individuals and families with low incomes.
- In the U.S. Census, NHPI stands for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.
- Owner-occupied homes are those inhabited by the owner of the home.
- The Census Bureau defines the poverty line as the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet basic living expenses. It is based on nationally set income thresholds that vary by family size and composition but do not change by location.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, provides monthly food assistance and support for purchases of healthy food for working families with low-incomes, adults with low incomes age 60 and older, and disabled people with fixed incomes.
- The WIC program is a federally funded nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to pregnant people with low incomes, postpartum and breastfeeding parents, and infants and children who are at risk of malnutrition.
Demographics
Race and Ethnicity
Florida is a racially and ethnically diverse state. According to 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS) data of the 21.9 million people in Florida, 51% are white, 15% are Black, 3% are multiracial residents, and 3% are Asian. Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander each constitute less than 1% of the population. In total, Florida has nearly 10.7 million nonwhite residents. Over 5.8 million residents, or 27%, are Latinx.
Miami-Dade County (69% Latinx, 15% Black, 13% white), in the southeastern corner of the state, is Florida’s most populous county and the centerpiece of the Miami metropolitan area.
Rural and Urban Population
Urbanization is a defining characteristic of Florida’s households. The U.S. Census Bureau considers census blocks with more than 2,000 housing units or 5,000 people to be urban while all other areas are rural. According to 2020 census data, of the nearly 10 million households in the state, 92% are in urban areas, significantly higher than the national urbanization rate of 79%. Latinx residents are more concentrated in urban areas than Black residents.
Voting and Registration
As of October 2024, Florida has nearly 14 million active registered voters. White residents make up the majority of registered voters at 61%, followed by Latinx residents at 19% and Black residents at 13%. Smaller groups include Asian and multiracial voters, each comprising 2% to 3% of the electorate. Among registered voters, 39% are Republicans, 32% are Democrats, 26% have no registered party, and 3% are registered with third parties.
Latinx voters are the majority in Miami-Dade County and nearly the majority in Osceola County, which is in the central part of the state, underscoring their political prominence in these areas. Black voters form the majority in Gadsden County in the northern part of the state, while Asian voters have their highest concentration in Orange County near the center of the state, where they represent 5% of registered voters.
Poverty
Approximately 2.7 million Floridians, or 13% of the state’s population, live below the poverty line, according to 2019-2023 ACS data. The Census Bureau defines the poverty line as the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet basic living expenses, based on nationally set income thresholds that vary by family size and composition but do not change by location. Among those in poverty, over 700,000 (around 26%) are children under the age of 18. Poverty rates are particularly high in counties such as Gadsden (55% Black, 31% white, 12% Latinx) and Hamilton (55% white, 31% Black, 11% Latinx), where more than 27% of residents live in poverty and Black communities earn only half of their white counterparts on average. The poverty rate for children under 18 is generally higher than the overall poverty rate, with Gadsden County reporting the highest child poverty rate in the state at 42%. Wakulla County (77% white, 14% Black, 5% Latinx) has the lowest poverty rate at 6% and the lowest poverty rate for children at 6%.
When examining poverty by race and ethnicity, over 1 million white residents (9%), 873,000 Latinx residents (15%), and 632,000 Black residents (20%) in Florida live below the poverty line according to 2019-2023 ACS data. Across counties, the poverty rate varies significantly for Black and Latinx residents. Across Florida counties, the white poverty rate ranges from 6% (Wakulla) to 21% (Liberty), while Black poverty ranges from 7% (Wakulla) to 58% (Hardee). Only 2% of Hardee County is Black (590 people), yet the majority of this small population lives below the poverty line. The Latinx rates show an even greater range. The lowest rate is 3% in Wakulla County. Despite the relatively small Latinx population (5%) in Calhoun County, 67% of Latinx individuals in the county live below the poverty line.
Income and Employment
Florida’s median household income is $71,711, about $7,000 lower than the national median as reported by 2019-2023 ACS data. But the statewide median income masks substantial variations across counties and demographic groups. While most racial and ethnic groups in Florida also have median incomes below their respective national medians, Black residents earn a median income of $54,426, which is about $1,000 higher than the national median overall of $53,444. Conversely, Latinx residents in Florida earn a statewide median income of $66,556, $2,300 below the national median for Latinx residents.
St. Johns County (79% white, 9% Latinx, 5% Black) has the highest median household income in Florida, at $106,169. In St. Johns County, most racial and ethnic groups report similarly high median incomes, reflecting a more equitable income distribution across all communities.
While St. Johns County stands out, other counties reflect regional income disparities within Florida and persistent racial and ethnic inequities. For example, Miami-Dade County, with a median income of $68,694, demonstrates a stark disparity between white and Black residents. White residents in Miami-Dade have a median income exceeding $100,000, while Black residents earn just over half of that. Glades County (55% white, 25% Latinx, 15% Black) has the lowest median income at $38,905.
Significant income disparity between white and Black residents exists in other counties, including Gadsden, Duval (49% white, 28% Black, and 12% Latinx), Broward (32% Latinx, 32% white, 28% Black), and Orange (37% white, 33% Latinx, 19% Black) counties, where white median income far surpasses Black median income.
Florida’s unemployment rate is 4.8%, 0.4 percentage points lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.2%, according to 2019-2023 ACS data. Black residents have an unemployment rate of 7.2%, the highest of the large racial and ethnic groups, and 1.5 percentage points lower than the national unemployment rate for Black residents of 8.7%. Latinx residents have an unemployment rate of 4.5%, also 1.5 percentage points below the national Latinx unemployment rate of 6%.
Education in Florida: Access, Funding and Attainment
Overall, educational attainment in Florida closely mirrors national rates, though there are notable variations across demographic groups and regions. Latinx Floridians exceed the national college attainment rate for Latinx individuals by 8 percentage points, with 28% holding a bachelor’s degree, according to 2019-2023 ACS data. While Latinx residents exceed national rates in educational attainment, Asian, Black, and white residents earn degrees at rates slightly lower than the national rate for each racial group.
The Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) provides the formula for Florida public school funding in the state, which includes per-student funding.i In the 2022-2023 school year, Florida allocated $10,646 per student in public school funding. Public school spending varies across counties. For example, Glades County has the highest per-pupil spending at $16,264. Pasco County (69% white, 18% Latinx, 6% Black) has the lowest spending at $8,843 per pupil. Gadsden County, which has a majority Black population, ranks fifth in spending per pupil.
State and federal programs also support students. Statewide, 54% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches in 2024, exceeding the national rate of 51% by 3 percentage points. In all but four counties — Sumter, St. Johns, Monroe, and Nassau — 40% or more of students are eligible for this assistance.
Floridians and the Criminal Legal System
There are racial disparities inherent within the state’s criminal legal system in jails and prisons: Black and white Floridians face incarceration rates higher than their national rates. A prison is a long-term correctional facility operated by state or federal governments for individuals convicted of serious crimes, typically felonies, and serving sentences longer than one year, while a jail is a short-term facility run by local authorities (counties or cities) for individuals awaiting trial, serving short sentences (usually less than a year), or held for minor offenses. Latinx residents in Florida, on the other hand, have notably lower rates compared to other racial groups and the national Latinx rate. Black residents have the highest incarceration rates, 1.3 times higher than the national rate for state prisons in 2021 and nearly 1.3 times higher for state jails in 2018. In state prisons, 282 per 100,000 white residents are incarcerated, 1.5 times the national rate of 188 per 100,000. In state jails, the rate is 249 per 100,000, more than 1.5 times the national rate of 162 per 100,000 for white residents. Latinx incarceration rates are less than half the national rate of 426 per 100,00 for prisons and one-third below the 147 per 100,000 national rate for jails.ii
Housing and Homelessness
Homeownership
In Florida, the percentage of owner-occupied homes exceeds the national rates for all major racial and ethnic groups. Owner-occupied homes are those in which the owner of the home also lives in the home. Statewide, 67% of Floridians live in owner-occupied housing according to 2019-2023 ACS data. Among white residents, the rate is particularly high, with 76% living in owner-occupied housing compared to 73% of white residents nationwide. Latinx and Black residents also demonstrate notably strong owner-occupied rates at 55% and 48%, respectively, about 4 percentage points higher than national rates for both groups.
Statewide, 55% of Latinx households in Florida are owner-occupied, and Latinx residents account for 19% of all owner-occupied residences in the state. This share is notably high in Miami-Dade County, where Latinx households comprise 68% of the owner-occupied residences, reflecting the region’s significant Latinx population and influence. Black owner-occupied homes in Florida reveal notable variations across counties, with Liberty County (75% white, 13% Black, 7% Latinx) standing out for having the highest rate of owner-occupied homes among Black households at 95%. Statewide, 48% of Black households are owner-occupied, with the average county-level owner-occupied home rate slightly higher at 55% for all residents. However, the share of owner-occupied homes held by Black households is considerably lower, averaging 9% at the county level and 10% statewide. Gadsden County is the only county in Florida where Black households represent a majority of owner-occupied homes, with 52% of Black households being owner-occupied. While Asian and multiracial residents in Florida represent a smaller population and therefore a smaller share of the housing market, owner-occupied home rates among these groups are high.
In Florida, the counties with the highest median home values are predominantly urban. The median home price in Florida is $348,400, per 2019-2023 ACS data. Monroe County (65% white, 24% Latinx, 7% Black), home to the Florida Keys, has the highest median home price at $734,400, which is an extraordinary figure that surpasses the second-highest county, Collier (62% white, 27% Latinx, 6% Black), by over $250,000 and exceeds the national median home value by $396,500. Among the 10 counties with the highest median home values, Walton County (82% white, 8% Latinx, 4% Black) is the only one with a significant rural population, with approximately 35% of households classified as rural.
The lowest median home values are typically found in rural counties. Holmes County (84% white, 7% Black, 4% Latinx) has the lowest median home value in the state at $135,300. DeSoto County (55% white, 30% Latinx, 13% Black), despite being predominantly urban, has a relatively low median home value of $182,000, ranking as the 11th lowest in the state.
Renting
The median rent (including houses and apartments) in Florida is $1,564 per month, $216 higher than the national median of $1,348, according to 2019-2023 ACS data. Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, has the highest median rent at $1,959. Calhoun County (76% white, 12% Black, 5% Latinx) has the lowest median rent at $680.
There were over 127,000 evictions in Florida in 2018, which is the most recent data. Miami-Dade County had the highest total at over 17,338, nearly 14% of all evictions in the state. Additionally, Broward, Duval, Orange, and Hillsborough counties all had more than 10,000 evictions.
For Floridians who do not own homes, the government plays a significant role in supporting housing affordability via various assistance programs, including housing choice vouchers, public housing, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. In 2024, 107,000 housing choice vouchers were issued statewide, representing $914 million in housing assistance. Formerly known as “Section 8” vouchers, the housing choice voucher program is administered by local public housing authorities and funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Vouchers allow recipients to find housing in the private market. Tenants typically pay 30% of their income toward rent and the voucher covers the rest. Public housing also serves as a critical resource, with 47,000 individuals residing in public units as of November 2024, 70% of whom belong to households identified as people of color. Additionally, the LIHTC program contributed significantly to affordable housing, with 1,321 properties comprising 181,000 units across Florida as of 2022. These initiatives collectively underscore the importance of government intervention in addressing housing needs, particularly for historically marginalized and low-income populations.
Homelessness
Nearly 31,000 Floridians are experiencing homelessness, as reported by 2023 data. Of those, 16,579 (54%) are white, 12,495 (41%) are Black, and 1,049 (3%) are multiracial.
Federal resources are available to support students experiencing homelessness. Title I is a component of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act that provides funding to schools serving a high percentage of families with low incomes. To ensure homeless youth are provided with support through Title I, the McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law designed to address the unique educational challenges faced by students experiencing homelessness and ensure services are provided in schools for the homeless population. In fiscal year 2024, Florida received nearly $7 million in federal funding through Title I and the McKinney-Vento Act programs. About 63,000 youth and students were experiencing homelessness in 2020-2021.iii
Of Florida’s 2% students experiencing homelessness, 22,196 students (35%) are Black, 19,078 (30%) are Latinx, and 17,809 (28%) are white. While school-age Black children comprise 16% of the total population, a disparate number of Black students are experiencing homelessness at 35%.
Health Insurance
Nearly 2.6 million Floridians lack health insurance, resulting in an uninsured rate of 12%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the national rate. Among the uninsured population, approximately 1 million are Latinx, another 1 million are white, and 450,000 are Black. Latinx Floridians have the highest uninsured rate, at 17%. Black Floridians have an uninsured rate of 14%, exceeding the national rate for Black residents by about 4 percentage points.
Geographic disparities further illustrate the challenges of health insurance coverage in Florida. Latinx residents in Gilchrist County face the highest uninsured rate at 48%. In Miami-Dade County, where nearly 69% of the population is Latinx, the uninsured rate is lower, at 15%. For Black residents, DeSoto County reports the highest uninsured rate at 26%. Meanwhile, Gadsden County, where the population is majority-Black, has a Black uninsured rate of 15%, aligning closely with the statewide rate for this group. However, the relationship between income and health insurance coverage is notably weaker for Black residents.
Florida’s Medicaid enrollment also falls below the national rate, with 18% of Floridians covered by Medicaid compared to 21% nationwide. Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical coverage to low-income individuals and families. This lower enrollment rate, combined with the higher uninsured rate, highlights a potential gap in health care access for the state’s residents.
Access to Food and Cash Assistance
Florida residents report food insecurity — defined as patterns of reduced food quality or intake according to the USDA — at a rate of 10.6%, slightly above the national rate of 10.4% in 2024. Putnam County (70% white, 15% Black, 11% Latinx) has the highest food insecurity rate at 15%.
According to 2022-23 data, approximately 418,000 Floridians participate in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. The WIC program is a federally funded nutrition assistance program in the U.S. that provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, as well as infants and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. Miami-Dade County, the state’s most populous county, has the highest enrollment, with 71,624 participants.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program spent $7.1 million supporting 50,352 recipients in 26,106 cases statewide in December 2024. TANF supported 4,400 people in 1,789 cases in June 2021, and spending amounted to $374,000. The TANF program is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides cash assistance to families experiencing financial crises to help them afford their basic needs. Miami-Dade County had the most recipients (10,775), most cases (4,580) and the most spending ($1.2 million).
TANF Recipients in Florida and County Population by Race, December 2024
The Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) serves nearly 107,000 households in Florida, providing essential support for energy bills, including heating and cooling costs, a crucial benefit given Florida’s climate. In 2023, the program delivered over $210 million in assistance statewide.
Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, is slightly higher in Florida than the national rate. In Florida, 13% of residents are enrolled in SNAP, compared to 12% nationally as reported by 2019-2023 ACS data. Hamilton County is an outlier with nearly one-third of its residents receiving SNAP benefits, reflecting its elevated levels of food insecurity.
Together, these initiatives highlight the importance of continued investment in Florida’s safety net programs to meet the needs of vulnerable populations and promote economic growth.
Infrastructure
Florida has received significant federal funding for infrastructure and development through recent legislative initiatives. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 allocated nearly $7.7 billion to infrastructure projects across the state, supporting improvements in transportation, energy systems, and public facilities. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 provided nearly $337 million for various initiatives in Florida, including approximately $1 million specifically for workforce development programs.
Florida’s vulnerability to weather-related threats and natural disasters is evident in the high number of disaster declarations and substantial financial assistance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Since 2002, Florida has experienced 2,001 federally declared disasters, reflecting the state’s exposure to hurricanes, floods and other severe weather events.
From 2002 to 2024, over 1.4 million homeowners in Florida applied for FEMA assistance, receiving a total of more than $3.5 billion in aid. Renters have also been significantly impacted, with over 1.1 million applications resulting in $1.8 billion in assistance. Combined, renters and homeowners in Florida submitted more than 2.5 million applications, leading to over $5.3 billion in federal disaster relief. Collier County has the most disaster declarations in the state with 34. Taylor (72% white, 20% Black, 4% Latinx) and Dixie (83% white, 6% Black, 4% Latinx) counties follow with 33. Miami-Dade County has the highest number of total applicants, over 270,000. Lee County led the state in total payments at $590 million.
Evidence shows that historically marginalized communities — including people of color, people with disabilities, and people with low incomes — are more vulnerable to tropical storms or other climate disasters, yet the federal response to natural disasters exacerbates existing racial inequities. For example, Black communities receive less government support than their white counterparts, even when the amount of damage is the same.
FEMA Applications and Payments in Florida, 2002-2024
Florida has benefited from substantial federal funding for infrastructure and disaster relief, addressing both development needs and the challenges posed by its vulnerability to natural disasters. These efforts underscore the importance of federal investments in supporting Florida’s infrastructure, resilience and recovery.
The Solution
In conclusion, there are several opportunities to improve the quality of life for Floridians across the board, particularly for people and families of color, who are more likely to be impacted by cuts to the social safety net. As this brief demonstrates, policymakers can and should prioritize the following to vastly improve racial disparities:
Maintain and expand access to government support programs including needs-based financial aid following a natural disaster. Research shows that people of color, especially those with lower incomes, are more likely to be impacted by a natural disaster. Because of redlining in housing, neighborhoods of color are more likely to be in a flood zone, placing these communities at the forefront of climate-related disasters in the Deep South. Further investing in a needs-based disaster aid program can help people, regardless of race and income, to rebuild their communities and homes in the aftermath of a disaster.