Nobody maintains separate figures for different areas/cities in Florida. The British Bureau in Miami has the only statewide database, compiled since 1991. So for example: We have 7000 resident Brits in Broward County in our database, but that figure changes daily and even we can't know every arriving British individual or business. Britons move in and out of Florida every day, setting up businesses, emigrating here or going back to UK for good. Some die and insist on being buried in the UK--nobody tracks British deaths or births in Florida either. Brits are not required to register officially with anybody in Florida, so even if you wanted to headcount them you couldn't.       When I interviewed the British Ambassador to the USA in 1993, the top British official here, he said:  "Frankly, Patricia The British Government has no idea how many Brits are in Florida.  And you can quote me on that. That's our official answer!".   16 years later, that answer hasn't changed. Tony Blair's UK Government Think Tank asked me again  [in May 2006 via email]  to provide figures for their research, on the number of Brits in Florida. In Feb. 2006 The British Consulate in Orlando also tried to set up a system whereby they could track the British community in Florida, in case of distress in hurricanes etc, but I expained they would have the same problem. They now have a voluntary system where Brits can register--see it explained on BRITISH CONSULATES page on this website]. The number of Brits in Florida literally goes up and down every day.       But only the British Bureau keeps any statistics at all.     We maintain a computer database broken down by Florida area code [305], [904] [407] etc, which we use for our PR work to target British communiities.   We can fairly accurately estimate there are 400,000 Brits living in Florida permanently or temporarily, spread across every part of Florida. This is based on our vast database of Brits in all areas, British businesses and professionals, FABB members and the entire Florida circulation and subscription list of the Union Jack Newspaper.

-----1.5 million British tourists visit Florida each year--official figures fro State Tourism Department. One third of all visitors to Busch Gardens in Tampa are British, Busch Gardens PR department confirmed.

---Florida is the most popular state for property buyers from the UK. UK buyers top the list of foreign buyers.

--Since 1990 Britain has owned more of corporate America than any other country. The UK is the largest foreign investor in the USA.

FLORIDA-BRITISH STATISTICS [August 2008] Florida remains by far the most popular location for foreign buyers of real estate, the National Association of Realtors announced, releasing its figures for May 2007-May 2008. Canadians, first, British second, Mexicans third. Florida was the top choice of British buyers with California second. [The Germans chose Florida first too----sigh, more of the towel-hoggers on our beaches]. TOURISM--BRITISH VISITORS TO FLORIDA up. A tremendous increase, said the Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. UK Visitors to South Florida are up by 10.8% over last year. August was an awesome month, said Henry Schaeffer, general manager at The Strand, a condo-hotel on South Beach popular with British visitors.

BRITISH IMMIGRANTS........excerpt from my October 2006 column in Union Jack Newspaper: "    The United States Citizen and Immigration Service [USCIS] recently announced its 2005 figures for official immigration to the USA.    So herewith some key statistics I've selected, relevant to Brits: 1] Florida came second to California as the most popular state for Brits to settle in, but showed a 100% rise in immigrants since 2004. That year, 1416 Brits settled officially on US visas. In 2005 it was up to 2396. 2] The most popular Florida cities Brits chose to settle in were  Broward-Miami-Dade area, second Orlando, third Tampa.
3] In 2005 the USA granted visas to 1,122, 373 new immigrants from 192 countries. These settled in all 50 states and 19,800 were Brits. South Dakota was the least popular state but still gained 7 new Brits I was fascinated to see. [The Brokeback Brits, tee hee?] 4] Most UK Brits came here on family visas [marriage to Americans etc] rather than E2/B1/B2 work/business visas. 5] Of European immigrants into Florida, Ukrainian immigrants beat the Brits into second place.
-----Amazing. I don't hear many Russian accents yet in Florida, do you? "

FLORIDA-BRITISH STATISTICS Florida remains by far the most popular location for foreign buyers of real estate, the National Association of Realtors announced, releasing its latest figures for May 2007-May 2008. Canadians, first, British second, Mexicans third. Florida was the top choice of British buyers with California second. [The Germans chose Florida first too----sigh, more towel-hogging on our beaches].     BRITISH VISITORS TO FLORIDA up---a tremendous increase, says the Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau in August 2008.

From a NEWS REPORT from Washington DC by McClatchy News Service September 16, 2006.   [I've edited it for relevance--PK]    The US Government still has no means of tracking foreign travellers arriving in America, even though Congress passed a bill and approved $900 million dollars to create a tracking system called US-VISIT. But it never got off the ground properly and there is still no system to track foreigners when they leave, Homeland Security officials said. The article said the US Government has a partial system to track SOME foreigners on arrival, but no system to headcount if/when they leave. All of which adds to the reason why nobody can provide an official figure on the number of Brits in America.

JULY 2006. The UK's Institute for Public Policy in London, working with the Foreign and Commonwealth contacted the British Bureau for their Brits Abroad research project. They were conducting the UK's largest survey ever on British expats living abroad. They asked me for statistics and an overview of Brits in Florida.