Deerfield Beach, Florida

Deerfield Beach in March

Deerfield Beach's history dates to 1890 when a small settlement named Hillsborough was developed along the Hillsboro River. As the population grew to 20 by 1898, the settlement was now served by its own post office and the town was named Deerfield for the deer that grazed along the river.

By the early 20th century, as the town's population continued to grow, the Florida East Coast Railroad constructed tracks en route to Miami bisecting Deerfield. Deerfield's early settlers were mostly farmers who grew pineapples, tomatoes, green beans, squash and fished along the Intracoastal Waterway. Deerfield remained a largely agricultural community, but in 1939 the town's name was changed to Deerfield Beach to let tourists know it has a beach.[7] In 1952, the original Deerfield Beach Pier was built of wood.[8]

As of 2010, there were 42,671 households, of which 21.8% were vacant. As of 2000, 16.3% of households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.2% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were non-families. 40.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.02 and the average family size was 2.72.

In 2000, the city the population was spread out, with 15.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 29.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $34,041, and the median income for a family was $44,853. Males had a median income of $35,154 versus $27,451 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,296. About 9.2% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language accounted for 75.36%, while speakers of Spanish made up 8.70%. Portuguese was spoken by 4.89%, French Creole 3.42%, French 2.16%, Italian 1.51%, and Yiddish comprised 1.17% of the population.[10]

As of 2013, Deerfield Beach also had the highest percentage of Brazilian and Brazilian American population (as a percentage of total population) in the United States at 11.06%.[11] It also has the percentage of Haitian and Haitian American residents in the United States, at 12.1%.[12]

Deerfield Beach is located at 26°18′19″N 80°07′11″W.[13] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.3 square miles (42.1 km²), of which 15.1 square miles (39.1 km²) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.0 km²) is water (7.12%).[6] Of Deerfield Beach's land mass 0.3 square miles is located on Deerfield Beach Island[14] (DBI).

Northern portion of Deerfield Beach

Deerfield Beach

Deerfield Beach pier from above

Deerfield Beach has a borderline tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification: Af), bordering on a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification: Am), featuring hot summer days, frequent thunderstorms in the summer, and rain less frequent in the fall.

During the summer months average temperatures tend to be in the 80s, while during the winter temperatures tend to be in the 60s. July is generally the warmest month of the year with an average maximum temperature of 92 °F (33.3 °C), while the coldest month of the year is February with an average minimum temperature of 58 °F (14.4 °C). The all-time record high is 101 °F (38.3 °C) recorded in 1981, while the all-time record low is 21 °F (−6.1 °C) which was recorded in 1995.[15] The year-round average temperature is 77 °F (25.0 °C).[7]

The annual average precipitation at Deerfield Beach is 57.27 inches (1,455 mm). Summer months tend to be wetter than winter months. The wettest month of the year is June with an average rainfall of 7.3 inches (190 mm).[15]

Deerfield Beach falls under the USDA 10b Plant Hardiness zone.[16]

Palm trees along Deerfield Beach

• Deerfield Beach Arboretum
• Deerfield Island Park[19]
• Quiet Waters Park
• Deerfield Beach Island (DBI)

Deerfield Beach City Hall

Deerfield Beach fireworks on July 4, 2013

There are five public schools in Deerfield Beach, as well as numerous private institutions. Public schools are administered by Broward County Public Schools.[20]

• Deerfield Beach station served by Amtrak and Tri-Rail
• Broward County Transit

• The Learning Experience

• Ace Hood, rapper
• Jerry Jeudy, NFL player for the Denver Broncos
• Canton Jones, Christian hip-hop artist
• Jason Pierre-Paul, NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Denard Robinson, former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars
• Devin Singletary, NFL player for the Buffalo Bills

Deerfield Beach is a part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood media market, which is the twelfth largest radio market[28] and the seventeenth largest television market[29] in the United States. Its primary daily newspapers are the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Miami Herald, and their Spanish-language counterparts El Sentinel and El Nuevo Herald. Local Deerfield-based media includes The Observer, a local weekly newspaper, and the Deerfield Times, published by Sun-Sentinel.

Deerfield Beach has one sister city,[30] as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Acre, Northern District, Israel

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Deerfield Beach.

• City of Deerfield Beach official website
• Deerfield Beach Historical Society