Hialeah is a city located in Miami-Dade County Florida. With a 2020 population of 230,135, it is the 6th largest city in Florida and the 97th largest city in the United States . Hialeah is currently declining at a rate of -0.69% annually but its population has increased by 2.43% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 224,669 in 2010. Hialeah reached it's highest population of 236,314 in 2017. Spanning over 23 miles, Hialeah has a population density of 10,664 people per square mile.
The average household income in Hialeah is $48,921 with a poverty rate of 22.43%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $1,170 per month, and the median house value is $228,600. The median age in Hialeah is 44.5 years, 42.7 years for males, and 46.1 years for females.
Hialeah is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area and the sixth-largest city in the state of Florida.
Hialeah Diversity and Language
Hialeah is considered to be one of the least diverse cities in the United States. Hialeah has the highest percentage of Cuban and Cuban-American residents of any city in the United States, at 73.37% of the population. Hispanics make up 94.7% of the city’s population, making Hialeah the second-highest percentage of the Hispanic population of U.S. cities with over 100,000 citizens.
Hialeah has one of the largest Spanish-speaking populations as well, with 96.3% of residents reporting speaking Spanish at home in 2016. Only 7.37% of Hialeah residents only spoke English.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Hialeah was 92.6% white (only 4.2% Non-Hispanic white), 2.7% black, 94.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.4% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 1.6% multiracial, and 2.6% other races.
Hialeah Population Growth
In 1925, Hialeah had a population of 1,500 and currently has a population of 239,942 people. The city grew 397.1% from 1940 to 1950 where the population grew from 3,958 to 19,676. In the following decade, the population grew 240.4% to 66,972 and then surpassed the 100,000 mark at 102,452 in 1970.
From 2000 to 2010, the U.S. Census shows a 0.8% decrease in the population. This is the only decrease in population Hialeah has seen since the beginning of its time. It is estimated that the population has grown 6.4% between 2010 and 2018, a less than 1.0% increase per year.
Hialeah’s name is attributed to the Muskogee origin, meaning “pretty prairie,” by combining “Haiyakpo” (prairie) and “hili” (pretty).
In 1921, pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss and cattleman James H. Bright found Hialeah and began developing the town together. The town was incorporated on September 10, 1925, and the same year, the Hialeah Park Race Track was opened, receiving more attention from the Miami media than any other sporting event in Miami history up to that point. The park attracted millions of people, including some well-known names such as the Kennedy’s, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and J.P. Morgan. At the time, it was considered to be the Jewel of Hialeah.
In 1926, a hurricane destroyed much of the progress the city had been making since it started being developed in 1921.
In 1937, Amelia Earhart said her good-byes from Hialeah before departing on her ill-fated flight around the world.
Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959 generated many Cuban exiles and World War II veterans made Hialeah a working-class community although it was intended to be a city for wealthy and elite. Hialeah’s high Cuban population stems from waves of exiles resulting from the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Freedom Flights from 1965 to 1973, the Mariel boatlift in 1980, and the Balseros of the late 1990s.
To this day, Hialeah is the only American industrial city that continues to grow and is known as the “City of Progress” to many.
