Sunny Isles Beach, FL

"Little Moscow"

Sunny Isles Beach is located on a barrier island in the northeast area of Miami-Dade County. The Atlantic Ocean is on its east side, and the Intracoastal Waterway is on its west side. Sunny Isles Beach is a major center of South Florida's Russian community. Many Russian stores are located along Collins Avenue, the city's main street. Sometimes the city is called "Little Moscow" because many Russians, and Russian-Americans, live there. It is a very popular resort area. Major land developers are building luxury hotels and condominiums there.

People

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that approximately 15,300 people were living in Sunny Isles Beach in 2000. Their ancestries were from all around the world. Russian (9.4%), Italian (5.8%), Polish (5.0%), United States (4.9%), Irish (2.9%), German (2.7%).

The Modern Language Association reports that in the year 2000,  Spanish was the mother tongue for 40.07% of Sunny Isles Beach residents, while English was spoken by 36.86% of its people, and 7.36% of the population had Russian as their first language. Other languages included French (spoken by 4.08%), Yiddish (2.62%), Hebrew (2.42%), Portuguese (2%), and Polish (1.37%). Hungarian, Italian, German, and French Creole were each spoken by less than 1% of residents.

U.S. Census information shows that people living in Sunny Isles Beach represent several racial groups:
White Non-Hispanic (58.&)
Hispanic (36.6%)
Other race (2.3%)
Two or more races (2.3%)
Black (2.0%)
(The total figure can be greater than 100% because Hispanics could be counted among other races.)

To Learn More

To find more information about Sunny Isles Beach, visit the city's official web site at http://www.sibfl.net/