Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859, making it the tenth-largest city in Broward County. Located 41 miles north of Miami, it is a key suburb of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6.14 million people in 2020.
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. In 1952, the original Deerfield Beach Pier was built of wood.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.3 square miles (of which 15.1 square miles (is land and 1.2 square miles (is water (Of Deerfield Beach's land mass 0.3 square miles is located on Deerfield Beach Island (Beach has a borderline tropical rainforest climate (climate classification: Af), bordering on a tropical monsoon climate (climate classification: Am), featuring hot summer days, frequent thunderstorms in the summer, and less frequent rain 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 92F (while the coldest month of the year is February with an average minimum temperature of 58F (The all-time record high is 101F (recorded in 1981, while the all-time record low is 21F (which was recorded in 1995. The year-round average temperature is 77F (annual average precipitation at Deerfield Beach is 57.27 inches (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 (Beach falls under the USDA 10b Plant Hardiness zone.
As of 2000[update], 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 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[update], Deerfield Beach also had the highest percentage of Brazilian and Brazilian American population (a percentage of total population) in the United States at 11.06%. It also has a significant percentage of Haitian and Haitian American residents in the United States, at 12.1%.
There are two locations of the Broward County Library system in Deerfield Beach:
There are five public schools in Deerfield Beach, as well as numerous private institutions. Public schools are administered by Broward County Public Schools.
Deerfield Beach is a part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood media market, which is the twelfth largest radio market and the seventeenth largest television market 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.