Some numbers are as suggestive as personal anecdotes.
Walk along the Latin-flavored neighborhoods of Miami and look at the people who walk by.
One of every three you see probably lives below the poverty level, the highest percentage in the nation.
Nearly two of every three residents in Miami-Dade County are Hispanic, while one of every three is of Cuban descent.
Meanwhile, just north of the county line, only 3 percent of the population in either Broward or Palm Beach county are of Cuban descent, while about one in six is Hispanic.
Estimates come from a wide-ranging Census 2000 Supplemental Survey released today for the nation's cities and counties that have at least 250,000 people.
Because of the 250,000 threshold, only three Florida cities -- Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville -- were considered in the rankings.
The yearlong survey of 700,000 households by the U.S. Census Bureau asked people about their education, housing, language spoken at home, household income, employment, and travel time to work. This survey is separate from the 2000 census.
The survey's numbers show a divided South Florida, from the immigrant-rich, relatively income-poor Miami-Dade County to the economically richer, whiter and older Broward and Palm Beach counties.
At the same time, the numbers show Broward and Palm Beach counties growing at much higher rates than Miami-Dade, propelling them toward a future that will be more Latin-flavored and younger.
"Broward will be much more Hispanic as the years go by," said Dick Ogburn, principal planner for the South Florida Regional Planning Council in Hollywood.
"Each of the counties will have its own personality and characteristics," he said, "but Broward will be more Hispanic and will continue to have a very strong linkage to Miami-Dade. [Broward] will face many of the same issues and problems. The same is true to a lesser but still-significant extent for Palm Beach County."
More than half of Miami-Dade's population is foreign-born, compared with a quarter of Broward and only 17 percent in Palm Beach County.
While one of five foreign-born residents in Broward hails from Latin America, that is true for nearly half in Miami-Dade.
In both Broward and Palm Beach counties, about three of every four people over the age of 5 speak only English at home, while only one of every three in Miami-Dade do so.
Just as compelling, the report shows South Florida in comparison with the rest of the nation.
That Miami ranks first in large cities below the poverty line is perhaps the most startling figure to come from the survey.
While one of every three there lives below the line, the next cities on the list, New Orleans; Atlanta; Newark, N.J.; and Fresno, Calif., hover around one in four.
Miami also ranks first in lowest median household income, more than $6,000 below the next city on the list, Cleveland. Miami-Dade ranks 21st in lowest median household income for counties.
Though startling, these statistics are not surprising, according to some local experts and officials.
"It doesn't surprise me at all," said Jerry Kolo, professor of urban planning at Florida Atlantic University.
Kolo said there is a "simple explanation" for the ranking: the poor immigrants who come to Miami, and, even more so, the politically fragmented state of Miami politics.
"The sheer force of the number of Latinos and the rapid rate at which they are gaining political eminence among the various cultural groups there," he said, is "politically marginalizing" other ethnic groups, especially blacks.
"The loudest wheel gets the grease," Kolo said, or, in this case, government support.
Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton said he was not surprised at the ranking but blamed decades of neighborhood neglect for the problem.
"What put these people in poverty is government's failure to keep these neighborhoods up 20 years ago," he said.
Because of the ranking, Winton said he hopes the city can get help from the federal government to reverse the trend, by helping people to buy homes instead of renting them.
According to the survey, nearly half of the homes in Miami-Dade are rented, while a little more than a quarter are rented in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Home ownership, Winton said, "sets a foundation for neighborhood involvement, activism and stability in the neighborhood."
Winton also said he doesn't expect to see Miami at the top of the list in the future because he expects a trend of people moving back into the city and away from suburbs to continue. He cited north-central Wynwood, a neighborhood that Winton said had a 50 percent vacancy rate in the mid-1990s but that now is thriving with new businesses.
George Wilson, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Miami, said the numbers point out how "economically polarized" the city has become. In other words, he said, "the haves are having more and the have-nots have less."
Wilson blamed the division on the creation of low-paying service-oriented jobs that are not career-oriented, such as fast-food jobs.
There also are more service jobs that are high-paying, including those in the telecommunications field, but those jobs require skills that many immigrants and lower-income people don't have, he said.
The city also is third in the nation, at 42 percent, in the percentage of population 25 or older that has less than a high school diploma, behind Newark and Santa Ana, Calif.
Despite the sharp differences between Miami-Dade and the two counties to the north, Ogburn said South Florida will continue to share a "community of interests, and it will be important to keep the channels of regional understanding open to enable Broward and Palm Beach to work with Miami-Dade County."
Victor Greto can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 954-385-7912.