U.S. Department of Commerce
and U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development Joint Release IMMEDIATE RELEASE MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1997 Public Information Office CB97-H.01 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TTD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Ed Montfort 301-763-8551 Thirty-One Percent of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Metropolitan Area's Households Give High Marks to Their Neighborhood, Census Bureau Report Says About 31 percent of households in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Metropolitan Area rated their neighborhood a perfect 10 and about 36 percent said their home was "the best place to live," according to a new report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the report, American Housing Survey for the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Metropolitan Area in 1995, H170/95-28, respondents were asked to rate their neighborhood and their house or apartment as a place to live based on scales of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best and 1 is the worst. Of the households in these neighborhoods, 10 percent reported problems with crime, 7 percent reported problems with traffic and 5 percent experienced problems with litter or housing deterioration. Other findings about the Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Metropolitan Area: - The area had 1,484,000 housing units in 1995, of which 1,245,000 were occupied (62 percent by owners and 38 percent by renters). - Single-family homes, at 59 percent of all occupied units, represented the predominant housing type in the area. - The median age of homes in Miami city was 35 years, compared with 21 years for the remaining area. - Homes in the area had a median of 2.3 bedrooms. - Occupied homes in the area had a median of 2.3 persons per unit and a median of 4.9 rooms per unit. - The median monthly housing costs for owners was $729 and for renters was $609. Monthly housing costs include mortgage payments or contract rent, utilities, fuels, insurance, real estate taxes (for owners) and other housing-related expenditures. - Monthly housing costs that were $1,000 or more accounted for 29 percent of the owners and 7 percent of the renters. - The median household income for area homeowners was $36,600; for renters, it was $19,900. - Owners had monthly housing costs that represented a median of 24 percent of their current income; for renters, it was 35 percent. - The median value of homeowners' residences in 1995 was $97,100. This value was not significantly different from the 1995 constant dollar value of $94,700 for 1990. - Of the 56,900 owner-occupied homes built or purchased during the last four years, 72 percent cost $100,000 or more; 54 percent of the owners of new homes used savings or cash-on-hand for their down payment. Data in the report are shown separately for units with African American and Hispanic householders. Since data in the report are from a survey, they are subject to sampling variability.-X-The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In over 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
