Doral, Florida

thumb|Downtown Doral, the city's new urban core

alt=doral|thumb|View of CityPlace Doral in the east of the city

Doral is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. One of 34 municipalities in the county, it is a principal city in the Miami metropolitan area that is located west of Miami International Airport and west of Downtown Miami. Doral occupies bordered on the west by the Ronald Reagan Turnpike and the Florida Everglades, on the north by the town of Medley, on the east by the Palmetto Expressway and on the south by the Dolphin Expressway and the city of Sweetwater. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 census, Doral had a population of 75,874, The city was named a 2019 All-America City Award finalist and one of the "Best Places to Live" in 2018 by Money magazine.

History

In the late 1950s, real estate pioneers Alfred and Doris Kaskel purchased of swampland between Northwest 36 Street and Northwest 74 Street and from Northwest 79 Avenue to Northwest 117 Avenue for about $49,000, intending to build a golf course and hotel. In 1962, the Doral Country Club opened in western Dade County, featuring the blue, red, and par-3 golf courses, along with a hotel on Miami Beach. The "Doral" name is a combination of Doris and Alfred's names. As Doral's first structure, the Doral Hotel, and Country Club became the area's hot spot: guests were transported from the beach to the country club for a day on the golf course.

In the second year of operations, the Kaskels hosted the first Doral Open Invitational, Florida's major PGA event.

From 1983 to 1985, Miami-Dade County imposed a building moratorium to protect the area's water wells. Once the ban was lifted, Doral experienced tremendous growth. In 1989, Morgan Levy helped organize the West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations to stand strong against proposals that threatened the community's welfare. Thus, they secured a police station instead of a jail and convinced county officials to implement higher development standards and more lighting, roads, and landscaping.

In 1995, residents began lobbying for incorporation in earnest, dissatisfied with the high tax rate relative to the services they received, as well as unchecked growth. The county met the first attempt at incorporation with a year's deferral. Some classified Doral as a "donor community", meaning that the taxes paid were more than the cost of operations. Mayor Luigi Boria, elected in November 2012, became the second Venezuelan-American mayor in the United States. He was replaced by Juan Carlos Bermudez who won a reelection bid in 2016. Mayor Bermudez was again reelected in November 2020 with 69.85% of votes for four more years to lead the community.

On December 13, 2022, during a run-off election, Doral voters made history by electing Doral's first female mayor, Christi Fraga, with 54.5% of the votes.

In 2025, Trump National Doral Miami was chosen to host the 2026 G20 Miami summit. The announcement was made by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez in the Oval Office and later confirmed by Doral Mayor Christi Fraga.

Media

Doral Community Newspapers, which is published bi-weekly and is part of Miami Community Newspapers, is one of the local publications in Doral. Another long-standing publication is Doral Family Journal, also published bi-weekly.

Two big media outlets have their headquarters in Doral: Univision Network/Fusion and CBS-owned & operated affiliate WFOR-TV, Channel 4. Several studios and other TV operations work out of Doral. The Telemundo chain has a presence in the city, with one of its main office and production units located there.

Geography

thumb|Doral Central Park in the afternoon

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . of it are land and of it (8.14%) are water.

| align = right

| align-fn = center

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Doral city, Florida – Racial composition

!Race (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!2010

!2000

!1990

|White alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |9.8% (7,446)

|14.6% (6,659)

|24% (4,912)

|53.3% (1,666)

|Black alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.1% (869)

|1.6% (745)

|2.1% (433)

|1.4% (45)

|American Indian alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.1% (41)

|0% (17)

|0% (5)

|0.1% (4)

|Asian alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.9% (2,180)

|3.4% (1,566)

|5% (1,015)

|<td rowspan="2"> |3.3% (102)

|Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0% (8)

|0% (3)

|0% (0)

|Other race alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.7% (497)

|0.3% (127)

|0.2% (32)

|0.1% (3)

|Multiracial (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.5% (1,890)

|0.5% (243)

|1.3% (257)

|—

|Hispanic/Latino (any race)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |83% (62,943)

|79.5% (36,344)

|67.4% (13,784)

|41.8% (1,306)

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Doral had a population of 75,874. The median age was 36.5 years. 24.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 8.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.2 males age 18 and over.

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 24,981 households in Doral, of which 46.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 57.9% were married-couple households, 14.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 14.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 15,311 families residing in the city.

Venezuelan (38.8%)
Colombian (11.2%)
Cuban (7.9%)
Italian (5.5%)
Puerto Rican (3.4%)
Dominican (3.3%)
Peruvian (2.2%)
Ecuadorian (2.2%)
Brazilian (1.9%)
German (1.9%)

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 45,704 people, 13,462 households, and 10,583 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of 2000, 38.0% of residents had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.6% were non-families. 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.12.

In 2000, 25.1% of the city population was under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 43.6% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 4.8% who were 65 years of age or older. As of 2000, the median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the CDP was $53,060, and the median income for a family was $57,193. Males had a median income of $46,324 versus $32,827 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $27,705. About 9.5% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.

In 2000, 16.2% of residents spoke only English at home, while 74.5% spoke Spanish, 5.0% spoke Portuguese 1.0% Chinese, 0.6% Tamil, 0.5% Japanese, and 0.5% Arabic.

Economy

thumb|[[Carnival Corporation & plc|Carnival Corporation and Carnival Cruise Lines headquarters in Doral]]

In 2005, Doral had over 10,000 businesses. During that year, Carnival Cruise Lines, Ryder, and Univision had operations in Doral. For years leading into 2005, Doral attracted businesses of various sizes.

Carnival Corporation and subsidiary Carnival Cruise Lines have their headquarters in Doral. In addition, Amadeus North America, AAXICO, Benihana, and Perry Ellis International have their headquarters in Doral.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Miami Branch Office, one of the five Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch offices, is located in Doral. United States Southern Command is also based in Doral.

Martinair operates its Americas headquarters in the Doral Corporate Center One in Doral. Avianca operates a Miami-area sales office in Doral. Grupo TACA operates a Miami-area TACA Center in Doral. El Al has its Miami-area office in Doral. Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has its US head office in Doral.

Before Doral was incorporated, the second (1996–1998) Pan American World Airways had its headquarters in Doral. At one time Ryder had its headquarters in Doral. In 2002 Ryder announced that it would move its headquarters to a new site in Miami-Dade County. The Miami Herald (along with El Nuevo Herald) moved its headquarters to Doral in 2013, and the headquarters stayed there until the newspaper vacated the facility in August 2020.

Portions of CSI: Miami episodes were filmed at CBS's Doral studios, which is home to its owned-and-operated affiliate, WFOR-TV, as well as MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFS-TV.

In September 2017, Doral published a comprehensive economic study which noted that "The City is home to 6,802 establishments employing 102,235 workers. The total volume of sales revenue from these companies, concentrated in such a small geographic area, represents $679,634 per worker, or over $1.35 million per resident making Doral one of South Florida's and the State's most productive local economies."

Principal employers

According to Doral's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report:

{| class="wikitable"

! #

! Employer

! # of employees

| 1

|Carnival Corporation

|2,380

|The Trump Organization

|900

|Univision

|800

|Leon Medical Centers

|760

|Supreme International

|525

|World Fuel Services

|500

|Amadeus

|450

|Perry Ellis International

|420

|Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

|412

|10

|Brinks Incorporated

|366

Government and infrastructure

The Doral Police Department was started on June 2, 2008, with 93 officers. Previously, the Miami-Dade Police Department served the area with stickers on the sides of its cars showing Doral's logo.

On January 20, 2015, former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal was sworn in as a reserve officer for Doral's police force.

List of mayors

{| class="wikitable"

!Mayor

!Term

|Juan Carlos Bermudez

|2003–2012

|Luigi Boria

|2012–2016

|Juan Carlos Bermudez

|2016–2022

|Christi Fraga

|2022–present

County government

The Miami-Dade Police Department's headquarters and Midwest District Station are in Doral. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department's headquarters is in Doral.

State and federal representation

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement operates the Miami Regional Operations Center in an unincorporated area that was formerly a part of the Doral CDP and is outside Doral's city limits.

The National Transportation Safety Board operates the Miami Aviation Field Office in Doral.

Transportation

The City of Doral Trolley was launched on February 1, 2008, and offers free travel for residents and visitors. The pilot program involved a weekday route that ran from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm with one trolley servicing one route. Currently the system has four routes, including a route servicing Florida International University, and the fleet includes 12 trolleys. In 2019, the City of Doral added the Freebee service, an on-demand transportation service which uses electric vehicles. Areas of service covered by the Freebee continues to expand with hot spot locations like Downtown Doral, CityPlace, Intercontinental Hotel and more being included.

Education and institutions

Colleges and universities

Carlos Albizu University
Cesar Vallejo College
Miami Dade College-West Campus
Millennia Atlantic University
Polytechnic University
San Ignacio University
West Coast University

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Doral is a part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system.

Residents are zoned to the following education facilities:

Public schools (MDCPS)

Eugenia B. Thomas K–8 Center
Ronald W. Reagan/Doral Senior High School
Dr. Rolando Espinosa K–8 Center
John I. Smith K–8 Center
Toni Bilbao Preparatory Academy
J.C. Bermudez Doral Senior High School
Andrea Castillo Preparatory Academy

Charter schools

Doral Academy Charter High School
Doral Academy Charter Middle School
Doral Academy of Technology
Downtown Doral Charter Elementary School
Downtown Doral Charter Upper School
Just Arts and Management Charter Middle School
Renaissance Elementary and Middle Charter School
BridgePrep Academy
Academir Charter School East
Doral International Academy of Math & Science

Private schools

Divine Savior Academy
Joy of Learning Child Care Center
Kids Corner
Shelton Academy

Weekend schools

The Miami Hoshuko, a weekend school for Japanese people, has its school office in Doral. Classes are held in Westchester.

Public libraries

thumb|Miami-Dade Public Library System Doral Branch

The Miami-Dade Public Library System operates the Doral Branch, which reopened on July 5, 2003, after an expansion, in the Doral Isles Shopping Center. In addition the system operates the International Mall Branch in Doral. The library was the second to be built after the opening of the Main Library in 1985. In June 2019, the Miami-Dade Public Library System's Doral Branch was moved to Downtown Doral, the city's new dynamic urban core.

Parks and recreation

Doral Central Park
Doral Cultural Arts Center
Doral Glades Park
Doral Legacy Park
Doral Meadow Park
Downtown Doral Park
MAU Park
Morgan Levy Park
Trails & Tails Park
Veterans Park
White Course Park