Florida is populated mostly by migrants. In 1990, only 30.5% of all state residents were Florida-born, compared with 61.8% for the US as a whole. Only Nevada had a lower proportion of native residents. Migration from other states accounted for more than 85% of Florida's population increase in the 1970s. From 1985 to 1990, net migration gains added another 1,461,550 new residents. Between 1990 and 1998, net domestic migration added 1,035,000 while international migration added 553,000. Florida's overall population increased 15.3% during that same period.
The early European immigrants to Florida—first the Spanish, then the English—never populated the state in significant numbers. Immigration from southern states began even before the US acquisition of Florida and accelerated thereafter. In the 20th century, US immigrants to Florida came, for the most part, from the Northeast and Midwest, their motivation to escape harsh northern winters. A large proportion of migrants have been retirees and other senior citizens. Between 1970 and 1980, the number of Floridians 65 or over increased by 70%, compared with a 44% increase for the US population as a whole. By 1998, 18.3% of the Florida populace was age 65 or older. In the period 1995–2000, 1,860,772 people moved into the state and 1,253,749 moved out, for a net gain of 607,023 of whom 149,440 were age 65 or over.
Since the 1960s, Florida has also experienced large-scale migration from the Caribbean and parts of Latin America. Although the state has had a significant Cuban population since the second half of the 19th century, the number of immigrants surged after the Cuban revolution of 1959. From December 1965 to April 1973, an airlift agreed to by the Cuban and US governments landed a quarter of a million Cubans in Miami. Another period of large-scale immigration from Cuba, beginning in April 1980, brought more than 100,000 Cubans into Florida harbors. At the same time, Haitian "boat people" were arriving in Florida in significant numbers—often reaching the southern peninsula packed in barely seaworthy small craft. The number of ethnic Haitians in Florida was reported at 105,495 in 1990. By 1990, a reported 541,011 ethnic Cubans were living in southern Florida, mostly in and around Miami, where the Cuban section had become known as "Little Havana." The US government classified some of them as illegal aliens, fleeing extreme poverty in their native country, but the immigrants claimed to be political refugees and sued to halt deportation proceedings against them. In 1996, a reported 2,186,000 Floridians (15%) were foreign-born. In 1998, 59,965 foreign immigrants were admitted into Florida, the 3rd-highest total of any state, accounting for over 9% of all foreign immigration that year. Of that total, 14,265 were from Cuba; 6,613 from Haiti; and 4,795 from Jamaica. As of 1998, Florida's Hispanic population numbered 2,080,000; those of Hispanic origin numbered 2,243,000.