[13] The Census Bureau also defines a wider commercial region based on commuting patterns, the Miami-Port Saint Lucie-Fort Lauderdale Combined Statistical Area (CSA), with a population of 6,887,655 in 2020.

One of the best known of Florida's vernacular regions, the name is a reference to the wealth and ritzy tropical lifestyle that characterizes the area.

The wet season, which is hot and humid, lasts from May to October, when daily thunderstorms and passing weak tropical lows bring downpours during the late afternoon.

At times cold fronts can make it all the way down to South Florida and provide some modest rainfall in the dry season.

When this occurs low temperatures can dip into the 40s during the early morning hours before quickly warming-up toward late morning/early afternoon.

South Florida only experiences these cold spells about twice each winter and they typically only last a day or two before temperatures return to the mid 70s.

The most likely time for South Florida to be hit is during the peak of the Cape Verde season, mid-August through the end of September.

The following is a list of the twenty largest cities in the Miami metropolitan area as ranked by population.

Religion in the Miami metropolitan area (2014)[67] According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the Miami metropolitan area (68%), with 39% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant and 27% professing Roman Catholic beliefs.

This contrasts with most of the rest of Florida, whose heavier Southern influence and high population of elderly voters makes it a swing or Republican-leaning state.

[78] However, in recent years the area has shifted hard to the Republicans, with former president Donald Trump losing the metro area by 16 points in 2020 compared to losing it by 30 in 2016 (Fueled especially by Miami Dade County shifting 22 points to the right between 2016 and 2020), and Governor Ron DeSantis winning the metro area outright in the 2022 gubernatorial election, winning both Miami Dade and Palm Beach Counties (With the former being won by double digits) while losing Broward only by less than 16 points.

In 2005, for the employed population 16 years and older, the leading industries in the Miami area were educational services, health care, and social assistance, which accounted for 18%, and Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services, which accounted for 13% of the population.

The dialect developed among second- or third-generation Hispanics, including Cuban-Americans, whose first language was English, though some non-Hispanic white, black, and other races who were born and raised in Miami-Dade tend to adopt it as well.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel circulates primarily in Broward and southern Palm Beach counties and also has a news bureau in Havana, Cuba.

The Boca Raton News publishes five days a week and circulates in southern Palm Beach County.

La Palma and El Sentinel are weekly Spanish newspapers published by the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel, respectively, and circulate in the same areas as their English-language counterparts.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale is the 12th largest radio market and the 16th-largest television market in the U.S. television stations serving the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area include WAMI-TV (UniMas), WBFS-TV (The CW), WSFL-TV (Independent), WFOR-TV (CBS), WHFT-TV (TBN), WLTV (Univision), WPLG (ABC), WPXM (ION), WSCV (Telemundo), WSVN (FOX), WTVJ (NBC), WLRN-TV (PBS), and WPBT (also PBS), the latter television station being the only channel to serve the entire metropolitan area.

It is the 49th largest radio market and the 38th-largest television market in the U.S. Television stations serving the West Palm Beach area include WPTV (NBC), WHDT (Independent), WPEC (CBS), WPBF (ABC), WFLX (FOX), WTVX (The CW), WXEL (PBS), WTCN (MyNetworkTV), and WPXP (ION).

In 2015, WPBT and WXEL merged their operations, to form South Florida PBS, although both stations have maintained separate programming schedules and social media platforms, but share the same subchannel lineup.

A professional superintendent manages the day-to-day operations of each district, who is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the school board.

Some colleges and universities in Greater Miami include: In 2005, 82% of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 28% had a bachelor's degree or higher.

The Miami metropolitan area is served by five interstate highways operated by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in conjunction with local agencies.

With an increased presence of traffic in South Florida, express lanes have been implemented in southern Palm Beach County.

These airports combine to make the fourth largest domestic origin and destination market in the United States, after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

[95] The following smaller general aviation airports are also in the metro area: The metropolis also has four seaports, the largest and most important being the Port of Miami.

The Deep Dredge will deepen the Port's existing channels to minus 50/52 feet to prepare for the Panama Canal expansion, now scheduled for completion in early 2015.

PortMiami's deeper channel will provide ships with an economically efficient, reliable and safe navigational route into the Port.

Port south of Norfolk, Virginia to be at the minus 50 foot depth in sync with the opening of the expanded Canal.

Deep Dredge is expected to create more than 30,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in Florida and allow the Port to meet its goal to double its cargo traffic over the next decade.

Brightline provides service to Miami, Aventura, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Central Florida's Orlando, with talks to expand to Tampa and Jacksonville.