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Florida with its 31% native born. Eleven percent of Florida residents
are foreign born, an amount that has doubled twice in the past two
decades. This 11% count is conservative in that it does not count the
number of children born in the U.S. to foreign-born, recently arrived
immigrants. The foreign-born population is concentrated in three major
metropolitan areas of the stateMiami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Tampawhere
more than 75% live. The Hispanic population in Florida has increased
from 1.6% of the total population in 1960 to 8.8% in 1980. When the
1980 Cuban immigrants are included, it is estimated that Hispanics will
account for more than 10% of Florida's population. About 55% of the
Hispanics are Cubans who were, therefore, about 5% of Florida's total
population in 1980 (McCoy & Gonzalez, 1982). Much of the data from the
1980 census are still in the process of being released and do not re
flect the Cubans who arrived in 1980.
Diaz (1980) finds that Cuban immigrants in the U.S. have two
characteristics not shared with most other U.S. ethnic groups: their
immigration was motivated by a different set of factors and mostabout
80%of the present population was foreign born, or still first genera
tion ethnics, facing all the problems traditionally faced by those
adjusting to U.S. culture. Compared with the Hispanic group as a whole,
the Cubans are older, with a smaller proportion of young people (U.S.
Department of Corrcnerce, 1981). There are two causes for this difference:
Cubans have a lower fertility rate than other Hispanic groups and a large
group of older Cubans immigrated during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Cuban group is most like the U.S. population as a whole in a variety
of measures such as age and income. The median Cuban family income
$17,500most closely resembles that of families not of Spanish origin,