Miami metropolitan area

The Miami metropolitan area, also known as South Florida, SoFlo, SoFla, the Gold Coast, the Tri-County Area, or Greater Miami, and officially the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the ninth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the largest metropolitan area in Florida. With a population of 6.14 million, its population exceeds 31 of the nation's 50 states as of 2022. It comprises the three most populated counties in the state, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, which rank as the first, second, and third-most populous counties in the state, respectively. Miami-Dade County, with 2,716,940 people in 2019, is the seventh-most populous county in the United States.

Miami is the region's financial and cultural core and most populous city. Other principal cities, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, include Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach, Boca Raton, Sunrise, Deerfield Beach, Miami Beach, Kendall, Doral, Delray Beach, Jupiter, and Palm Beach Gardens. The Miami metropolitan area is part of the larger South Florida region of the state, which also includes the Everglades and the Florida Keys.

With 1,279.2 sq mi (3,313 km²) of urban landmass, the Miami metropolitan area also is one of the world's most populous urban agglomerations.

South Florida is largely confined to a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Everglades, and Miami's urbanized area is about 100 miles (160 km) long (north to south) and at most 20 miles (32 km) east to west; in some areas, its east to west width is only 5 miles (8 km). The Miami metropolitan statistical area is the second-longest urbanized area in the United States behind the New York metropolitan area. It was the eighth-most densely populated urbanized area in the United States as of the 2000 census.

As of the 2000 census, the urbanized area had a land area of 1,116 square miles (2,890 km²), with a population of 4,919,036, for a population density of 4,407.4 per square mile (1,701.7 per km²). Miami the largest city in the metropolitan area, had population density of over 10,000/sq mi (more than 3,800/km²). The Miami Urbanized Area was the fourth-largest urbanized area in the United States in the 2010 census.

The Miami metropolitan area also includes several urban clusters (UCs) as of the 2000 census, which are not part of the Miami urbanized area. These include Belle Glade (population 24,218, area 20.717 km² and population density of 3027.6/sq mi), Key Biscayne (population 10,513, area 4.924 km² and population density of 5529.5/sq mi), Redland (population 3,936, area 10.586 km² and population density of 963.0/sq mi), and West Jupiter (population 8,998, area 24.737 km² and population density of 942.1/sq mi).

The most notable colleges and universities in the Miami metropolitan area include Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, and the University of Miami. The region also has three community colleges, Broward College, Miami Dade College, and Palm Beach State College. Some of these institutions, such as Florida International University and Miami Dade College, make up some of the largest institutions of higher learning in the United States.