| Tamarac | |||
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| — City — | |||
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| Location of Tamarac, Broward County, Florida | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Florida | ||
| County | Broward | ||
| Incorporated (city) | 15 August 1963 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Commission-Manager | ||
| • Mayor | Pamela Bushnell | ||
| • City Manager | Michael C. Cernech | ||
| Area[1] | |||
| • City | 11.89 sq mi (30.8 km2) | ||
| • Land | 11.39 sq mi (29.5 km2) | ||
| • Water | 0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 9 ft (3 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • City | 60,427 | ||
| • Density | 5,082.2/sq mi (1,962.2/km2) | ||
| • Metro | 5,564,635 | ||
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 33309, 33319, 33320, 33321, 33351, 33359 | ||
| Area code(s) | 954, 754 | ||
| FIPS code | 12-70675[2] | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0300337[3] | ||
| Website | http://tamarac.org | ||
Tamarac is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,427. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census.
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In the early 1960s a young developer named Ken Behring, the city's founder, came from the Midwest after making his fortune with a chain of car washes called Car-A-Mat. He bought land where he could, creating an active adult community of two-bedroom homes. He called his new city Tamarac, named after the Tamarac Country Club. Coincidentally, this also was "Car-A-Mat" spelled backwards.
In 1963, Behring built the city's first development east of State Road 7, Tamarac Lakes Section One and Section Two. Next came two neighborhoods of homes built on a former orange grove called Tamarac Lakes North and The Boulevards. Three of Behring's last developments were Tamarac Lakes South, then the Mainlands of Tamarac Lakes just west of State Road 7, and finally, the Woodlands community.
The city's early leaders, hoping to preserve Tamarac as a bedroom community, allowed Fort Lauderdale to annex commercial pockets, forever losing land that might have bolstered the city's coffers. In the late 1970s, the city de-annexed a long line of commercial buildings from State Road 7 all the way to Northwest 31 Avenue, but it went along with Behring's vision of Tamarac as a bedroom community. The boundaries were wherever Mr. Behring decided to build homes. The city's current eastern boundaries narrow to a sliver from Northwest 31 to 37 Avenues, then widen to the south. The city's easternmost boundary extends below Commercial Boulevard to Northwest 16 Avenue. Many newcomers don't even realize there is an east side to Tamarac - including those who live there. In the early years, neighbors might have preferred being in neighboring Fort Lauderdale who received more attention from them at the time. Things changed when Walter Falck was elected mayor. Falck, who served from 1976 to 1984, helped lead the city with an eye for his pals on the east.
Behring also named a subdivision he founded in the Pinellas Park area, the "Mainlands of Tamarac By-the-Gulf".
Tamarac is located at (26.203581, -80.246376)[4]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.9 square miles (31 km2), of which 11.4 square miles (30 km2) is land and 0.5 square miles (1 km2) is water (4.21%).[1]
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 55,588 people, 27,423 households, and 15,740 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,879.8 per square mile (1,884.3/km²). There were 29,750 housing units at an average density of 2,611.6 per square mile (1,008.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.08% White (71.4% were Non-Hispanic White),[5] 10.51% African American, 0.18% Native American, 1.48% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.91% from other races, and 2.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.88% of the population.
There were 27,423 households out of which 15.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.8% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.6% were non-families. 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.56.
In the city the population was spread out with 13.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 37.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females there were 80.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,290, and the median income for a family was $41,927. Males had a median income of $32,317 versus $28,360 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,243. About 6.1% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2000, speakers of English language as a first language were at 78.08% of the population, while Spanish was at 13.69%. Also, Yiddish was at 1.90%, French at 1.15%, Haitian Creole consisted of 1.12%, Italian made up 1.08%, German comprised 0.62%, and Hebrew as a mother tongue made up 0.52% of residents.[6]
Over the years, the multicultural population has expanded in Tamarac, such as people from Latin American and Caribbean ancestry. As of 2000, Tamarac was the fifty-first most Colombian-populated area in the US, with 2.74% of the population.[7] It also had the thirty-second highest percentage of Jamaicans in the US, (tied with Royal Palm Beach and Goulds) at 4.1% of all residents.[8]
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