In 2016, two cruise lines will home port their biggest vessels at Port Canaveral in Brevard: the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic and the 5,400-passenger Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas.
Photo: Royal Caribbean
Photo: Gary Keen/U.S. Navy
Orlando Eye
Photo: Merlin Entertainment
Florida Hospital Orlando was ranked among the top 50 hospitals nationwide in nine adult medical specialties on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals, 2015-16.”
Photo: Norma Lopez Molina
SHARE:
Business Florida 2016 - The Regions
East Central Florida
TOURISM AND AVIATION/ AEROSPACE REMAIN STALWART INDUSTRIES in Florida’s east central region. In 2014, Orlando hosted 62 million visitors, the first U.S. city to surpass the 60 million mark in a single year, while high-tech companies big and small tapped into the infrastructure and talent birthed by NASA along Florida’s “spacecoast” to grow their presence or put down new roots. Fueling additional economic success across the region are manufacturing, logistics and business services, along with 17 institutions of higher education, including the nation’s second largest, University of Central Florida, where researchers have set a school record for funded research — $145.6 million in FY 2014.
In 2014, Port Canaveral — North America’s second busiest cruise port — welcomed 3.9 million multiday passengers, handled cargo totaling 3.4 million tons and added a bulk conveyor system capable of offloading 2,000 tons per hour. The SunRail commuter train, which celebrated its first anniversary in May 2015, is enjoying better-than-expected ridership between Orange and Volusia counties and expects to begin construction on a 17.2-mile extension into Osceola County later this year. Meanwhile, Orlando International Airport continues its largest-ever expansion, providing improved links to ground transportation, including All Aboard Florida’s Orlando-to-Miami train slated to begin operation in 2017.
WHO LIVES HERE
Young and old
Almost two-thirds of Orlando’s population is under age 44 and nearly one-third has earned a college degree. Conversely, 52% of residents in Sumter County are age 65 and older, where many reside at The Villages, one of America’s largest retirement communities and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation’s fastest growing metro area in 2013-14.
Diverse
African-Americans find greater-than-average opportunity in Orlando, according to Forbes magazine, which ranked the city 7th on its list of U.S. metropolitan areas where blacks fare the best economically. And among U.S. cities with populations exceeding 200,000, Orlando ranked 9th for number of women in the workforce, according to personal finance website Nerdwallet. Also strong in this region: Latin influences, especially in Osceola County, where Hispanics make up 49% of the total population.
Tech-ready
Brevard County, ground zero for Florida’s aerospace industry, boasts 48 engineers per 1,000 workers — more than any of the 25 most populated metro areas in the U.S. — and attracts 13 patents for every 10,000 workers. Across the region, five high schools earned gold medals in U.S. News & World Report’s “2015 Best High Schools,” and, with 66 U.S. utility patents granted in 2014, University of Central Florida ranked 12th among U.S. public universities and 30th worldwide.
