Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 11,504. It is north from Fort Lauderdale and north of Miami.
History
The first settlers came to the area after Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 at the end of the Seminole Wars during the administration of President John Tyler. The M.B. Lyman family is credited with founding the town. Lyman arrived with his family in 1888, and within a year, started several enterprises including a general store, Indian trading post, and post office. As postmaster, Lyman named the post office – Lantana Point – for the wild lantana plants that grew in abundance in the area. The word Point was later dropped. The facility was demolished in November 2014.
From 1974 until 1988, Lantana was home to the tradition of hosting the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world. Every year, a huge tree was shipped from the Pacific Northwest to Lantana by rail to the grounds of the National Enquirer, adjacent to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The event would attract many visitors every night, and grew to be one of the most spectacular and celebrated holiday events in South Florida. This annual festivity ended in 1989 due to the sale of the National Enquirer following the death of its founder, Generoso Pope Jr., at age of 61 in October 1988.
In 2025, the Florida Supreme Court let stand more than $100,000 in fines the town levied on a homeowner for having allowed cars to be parked on her property with two tires occasionally resting on the lawn.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which (21.31%) is covered by water.
Climate
Lantana has a tropical climate, more specifically a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af), as its driest month (February) averages of precipitation, meeting the minimum standard of 60 mm in the driest month needed to qualify for that designation. Much of the year is warm to hot in Lantana, and frost is extremely rare. As is typical in the Miami metropolitan area, two basic seasons occur in Lantana, a mild and dry winter (November through April), and a hot and wet summer (May through October). Daily thundershowers are common in the hot season, though they are brief. The town of Lantana is home to many varieties of tropical vegetation, which can be seen in its variety of plants, trees, and flowers all over South Florida and the town itself, including its namesake, the lantana flower.
Demographics
Lantana is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Lantana had a population of 11,504. The median age was 43.3 years. 18.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.1 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 4,649 households in Lantana, of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 34.4% were married-couple households, 24.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Lantana racial composition<br> (Hispanics excluded from racial categories)<br> (NH = Non-Hispanic)
!Race
!Number
!Percentage
|-
|White (NH)
|5,701
|49.56%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|2,755
|23.95%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|18
|0.16%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|192
|1.67%
|-
|Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian (NH)
|6
|0.05%
|-
|Some other race (NH)
|95
|0.83%
|-
|Multiracial (NH)
|377
|3.28%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|2,360
|20.51%
|-
|Total
|11,504
|
|}
2010 census
{| class="wikitable" style="float: left; margin-right: 2em; width: 35%; font-size: 80%;"
!colspan=4|Lantana Demographics
|-
|2010 Census||Lantana||Palm Beach County||Florida
|-
|Total population||10,423||1,320,134||18,801,310
|-
|Population change, 2000 to 2010||+10.4%||+16.7%||+17.6%
|-
|Population density||4,547.8/sq mi||670.2/sq mi||350.6/sq mi
|-
|White or Caucasian (incl. White Hispanic)||69.3%||73.5%||75.0%
|-
|(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)||56.3%||60.1%||57.9%
|-
|Black or African-American||22.0%||17.3%||16.0%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (of any race)||18.6%||19.0%||22.5%
|-
|Asian||1.5%||2.4%||2.4%
|-
|Native American or Native Alaskan||0.4%||0.5%||0.4%
|-
|Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian||0.1%||0.1%||0.1%
|-
|Multiracial||2.8%||2.3%||2.5%
|-
|Some other race||1.9%||3.9%||3.6%
|}
As of the 2010 United States census, 10,423 people, 4,164 households, and 2,128 families were residing in the town.
2000 census
In 2000, the age distribution included 6.1% under 5, 21.4% under 18, and 13.8% were 65 years or older. The median income for a household in the town was $41,624. About 17.4% of the population was below the poverty line.
As of 2000, English as a first language accounted for 73.24% of all residents, while Spanish was found to be the first language of 13.95%, French Creole made up 6.82%, and Finnish was the mother tongue of 5.01% of the population (the highest percentage in Florida). Also, French was spoken by 0.62% of residents and German was spoken by 0.34% of the populace.
As of 2000, Lantana had the 111th-highest percentage of Finns in the US, which accounted for 5.4% of all residents (tied with two US areas in Michigan), while Haitians had the thirty-fifth highest percentage, with 5.20% of the population.
Culture
Lantana was the publishing headquarters of the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper during the 1970s and much of the 1980s.
The Town of Lantana has a public library, with a collection of more than 24,000 volumes, as of 2020. The Lantana Road Library west of the city in unincorporated Palm Beach County is a branch of the public Palm Beach County Library System.
Education
Public
- Lantana Elementary School
- Starlight Cove Elementary School
- Barton Elementary School
- Lantana Community Middle School
- Santaluces Community High School
Public Charter School
- Palm Beach Maritime Academy (prekindergarten - grade 12)
Special Needs School
- Royal Palm School (prekindergarten - grade 12)
Sister cities
- Lapua, Finland
Notable people
- Artine Artinian, literature scholar
- Lori Berman, member of the Florida State Senate
- James Anthony Frederick, serial killer
- Clifford L. Linedecker, author
- Kathleen Ridder, philanthropist, educator, writer, equality for women activist
- Paul Shannon, radio announcer
References
External links
- Lantana official website
- Lantana Public Library official website