Florida covers 53,927 square miles, with a 2008 estimated population of 18,328,340 people - with 1,172,421 people living in rural Florida (USDA-ERS). Tallahassee is the state capital. The state's largest cities are Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 80,0% of the state's population is white, 15.9% is Black/African American, and 20.6% is of Hispanic/Latino origin (2007).
There are 187 hospitals in Florida, 29 of which are located in rural areas (North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, Dec. 2008). The state has 11 hospitals currently identified by the Flex Monitoring Team as Critical Access Hospitals (April, 2009). There are 137 Rural Health Clinics in Florida (Kaiser, 2010), and 41 Federally Qualified Health Centers provide services at 372 sites in the state (Kaiser, 2008). 20.7% of Florida residents lack any health insurance (Kaiser, 2006-2007).
According to the USDA Economic Research Service, the average per-capita income for all Florida residents in 2007 was $38,417, although rural per-capita income lagged at $27,382. Estimates from 2008 indicate a poverty rate of 17.8% exists in rural Florida, compared to 13.0% in urban areas of the state. 2000 data reports 26.5% of the rural population has not completed high school, while 19.7% of the urban population lacks a high school diploma. The unemployment rate in rural Florida is 6.4%, while in urban Florida it is 6.2% (USDA-ERS, 2008).
