Florida's Postwar Population Boom, 1945 to 1970

Florida grew from 1,897,414 residents in the 1940 census to 6,789,443 in the 1970 census, more than three and a half times as many people in thirty years (U.S. Census Bureau).

The decade figures show where the surge peaked. Florida added 46.1 percent in the 1940s, 78.7 percent in the 1950s and 37.1 percent in the 1960s, and the 1950 to 1960 jump alone was more than 2.1 million people (Census Bureau population change table). The 1960 count was 4,951,560. By 1980 the state had 9,746,324 residents, another 43.6 percent gain.

Density tells the same story. Florida had 35.4 people per square mile in 1940 and ranked 33rd among the states for density; by 1970 it had 126.6 per square mile and ranked 16th (Census Bureau density table). Congressional power followed the headcount: Florida held 6 House seats after the 1940 census, 12 after 1960 and 15 after 1970 (Census Bureau apportionment table).

A note on rounding: summaries of the Florida boom often say the state reached nearly 7 million by 1970, but the census count was 6,789,443, closer to 6.8 million (Census Bureau). The figures in the table are exact decennial counts, not estimates. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida Memory, Florida Department of State, National Archives, NASA and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise websites.

World War II turned Florida into a training ground: more than 200 military installations were built or expanded in the state between 1941 and 1945, and many who served there came back as visitors or residents (Florida Memory).

Those Florida installations required 1.2 million acres of land and cost $306 million, according to the State Archives of Florida learning unit on the war (Florida Memory). The Florida Department of State credits the mild climate for the choice and adds that highway and airport construction accelerated, so that by the end of the war Florida had an up-to-date transportation network ready for residents and visitors (Florida Department of State).

Several Florida communities grew explosively during the war, a trend that continued in some places afterward. Miami grew from 172,000 people in 1940 to 250,000 by 1950, Key West doubled from 15,000 to 35,000 in the single year 1943, and Panama City, a shipbuilding center in the Florida panhandle, went from a town of 11,000 in 1941 to a city of 50,000 by 1943 (Florida Memory). The same unit says Florida's population grew 46.1 percent in the 1940s and expanded even faster in the 1950s.

The lasting effect was personal. Florida Memory says soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and nurses who trained or served in Florida later returned as visitors or new residents, and that military personnel vacationed and retired in the Sunshine State in large numbers (Florida Memory).

The GI Bill, signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance and housing (National Archives), and returning veterans using it overwhelmed the University of Florida.

Nationally, 4.3 million GI Bill home loans worth $33 billion had been granted by 1955, and veterans bought 20 percent of all new homes built after the war; the G.I. Bill expired in 1956 (National Archives). The National Archives also notes that Black veterans were often unable to get bank loans for mortgages in Black neighborhoods and faced discrimination that excluded them from buying homes in white suburban neighborhoods.

On Florida campuses the effect was immediate. Florida Memory says the University of Florida was overwhelmed with returning veterans, first opened a temporary branch in Tallahassee taught by Florida State College for Women professors, and then in 1947 the Florida Legislature made the women's college coeducational under the new name Florida State University (Florida Memory). The Florida Department of State adds that the university and community college system has expanded rapidly since World War II (Department of State).

In the 1950s Florida's population grew an average of 6.1 percent a year and hit 8 percent in both 1956 and 1957, as air conditioning spread across warmer parts of the country (U.S. Census Bureau).

Florida's growth far outpaced the national rate, which was between 1.5 and 2 percent a year during the same decade, and growth of 8 percent a year means a population doubling roughly every nine years (Census Bureau). The bureau places the 1956 and 1957 rates near the peak of the baby boom.

1957 was the last year Florida ranked as the fastest-growing state until the Vintage 2022 estimates, when Florida grew 1.9 percent to 22,244,823 people (Census Bureau, December 22, 2022). The 1950 to 1960 census gain of 78.7 percent remains the largest decade increase in the Florida series that begins in 1910 (Census Bureau).

A toll road down the peninsula opened in 1957 and rocket launches at Cape Canaveral began on July 24, 1950, starting a space industry that brought people and technology to Florida (NASA; Florida's Turnpike Enterprise; Museum of Florida History).

Bumper 8 lifted off on July 24, 1950, the first rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, a site NASA describes as a place on the Atlantic coast of central Florida (NASA). The Redstone rocket, first flown from the cape's new Complex 4, became the Juno 1 that launched Explorer 1, America's first artificial satellite, on January 31, 1958, and the Redstone also launched Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom on suborbital Mercury missions in 1961. The Museum of Florida History says the space industry brought people, technology, research and media attention to Florida (Museum of Florida History).

On the ground, the first 110-mile stretch of what is now Florida's Turnpike was completed in 1957 (Florida's Turnpike Enterprise). The Sunshine State Parkway had its grand opening in 1957, with its first customer on January 25, 1957, the Orlando to Wildwood section opened in 1964, and the road took the name Florida's Turnpike in April 1968. Florida Memory says the Interstate Highway System brought record numbers of tourists to the state and created boomtowns seemingly overnight (Florida Memory).

Florida's postwar newcomers came from other states and from countries throughout the western hemisphere, notably Cuba and Haiti (Florida Department of State).

The Museum of Florida History says newcomers from other states and countries helped create a dynamic Florida population, and that growth in tourism, agriculture and other industries created jobs and drew businesses to the state (Museum of Florida History). The Department of State lists the newer industries: electronics, plastics, construction, real estate and international banking joined tourism, cattle, citrus and phosphate, and several major corporations moved their headquarters to Florida (Department of State).

The same Department of State history records that since the 1950s Florida's public education system and public places have undergone great changes, as African American citizens, joined by Governor LeRoy Collins and other white supporters, fought to end racial discrimination in schools and other institutions (Department of State). The Florida topics library covers that story, and the later Cuban arrivals, in its civil rights era and Cuban immigration guides.

Yes: Florida grew 43.6 percent in the 1970s to 9,746,324 people in 1980, and the Census Bureau says average annual growth stayed above 3.0 percent from 1960 through 1989 (Census Bureau; Census Bureau).

Growth slowed in percentage terms after that, to 14.6 percent between 2010 and 2020, but the base is far larger: the 2020 census counted 21,538,187 Floridians and gave the state 28 House seats (Census Bureau; apportionment table). The Florida Department of State now describes Florida as the third most populous state (Department of State).