Miami Lakes, officially the Town of Miami Lakes, is an incorporated town in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The town is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,467.
Geography
Miami Lakes is located northwest of downtown Miami. It is bordered to the south and west by the city of Hialeah, to the east by the city of Miami Gardens, and to the north by the unincorporated community of Country Club.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Miami Lakes has a total area of . of it are land and of it (13.05%) are water.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Miami Lakes, Florida – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>
!Pop 2000
!Pop 2010
!
!% 2000
!% 2010
!
|-
|White alone (NH)
|6,362
|4,227
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3,286
|28.06%
|14.40%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |10.79%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|530
|718
|style='background: #ffffe6; |647
|2.34%
|2.45%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.12%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|20
|4
|style='background: #ffffe6; |4
|0.09%
|0.01%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|480
|407
|style='background: #ffffe6; |469
|2.12%
|1.39%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.54%
|-
|Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|6
|2
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3
|0.03%
|0.01%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%
|-
|Other Race alone (NH)
|20
|31
|style='background: #ffffe6; |129
|0.09%
|0.11%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.42%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|175
|146
|style='background: #ffffe6; |293
|0.77%
|0.50%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.96%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|15,083
|23,826
|style='background: #ffffe6; |25,636
|66.52%
|81.15%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |84.14%
|-
|Total
|22,676
|29,361
|style='background: #ffffe6; |30,467
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Miami Lakes had a population of 30,467. The median age was 43.1 years. 18.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 85.8 males age 18 and over.
There were 11,238 households in Miami Lakes, of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.1% were married-couple households, 14.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
2000 census
In 2000, 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.6% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.21.
In 2000, 25.1% of the population was under the age of 18, 7.2% was from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
As of 2000, 72.41% of the population spoke Spanish at home, while 24.65% spoke only English. In addition, 0.67% of residents spoke Portuguese and 0.64% spoke Urdu.
Income and poverty
-2013, the median income for a household in the town was $63,754 and the median income for a family was $68,431. Males had a median income of $45,759 versus $31,656 for females. The per capita income for the town was $28,867. About 3.8% of families and 4.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Since its incorporation in 2000, the Town of Miami Lakes operates under a council-manager form of government. The council-manager system combines the strong leadership of elected officials with the strong managerial experience of an appointed town manager.
The mayor's seat is elected at-large for a four-year term. As defined in the town's charter, the mayor shall preside at meetings of the council and be a voting member of the council. The town council is vested with all legislative powers of the town. The council consists of the mayor and six members.
As of 2024, the town council members are:
- Mayor – Josh Dieguez
- Councilmember Seat 1 - Angelo Cuadra Garcia
- Councilmember Seat 2 – Ray Garcia
- Councilmember Seat 3 – Juan Carlos Fernandez
- Councilmember Seat 4 – Alejandro Sanchez
- Councilmember Seat 5 – Steven Herzberg
- Councilmember Seat 6 – Bryan Morera
The Town of Miami Lakes held a grand opening and ribbon-cutting for its new town hall on April 23, 2013, located at the east end of Main Street.
On October 5, 2010, Nelson Hernandez became the youngest council member elected to the Miami Lakes Town Council at the age of 24, ever since the town's incorporation in 2000.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office is under contract with the Town of Miami Lakes to perform law enforcement functions within the Town.
The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue operates Station 1 Miami Lakes & Station 64 Miami Lakes West.
{| class="toccolours collapsible collapsed" width=50% align="left"
|-
! style="background:#F5DEB3"| <small>Mayors of Miami Lakes</small>
|-
|
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Image
! Mayor
! Years
! Notes
|- style="height:4em"
|-
|
|Wayne Slaton
|2000–2008
| First mayor of Miami Lakes
|-
|75px
|Michael Pizzi
|2008–2013
| Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. Forced to resign in 2013 after being arrested for corruption
|-
|
|Wayne Slaton
|2013<br> (2nd term)
|Elected in a special election
|-
|
|Manny Cid
|2016–Present
|
|}
|}
Economy
Several companies are headquartered in Miami Lakes, including BankUnited, N.A.; one of the largest banking institutions in the United States.
Potamkin Auto Group, The Graham Companies, Fine Art Lamps, Pacer, New Generation Computing, South Florida ENT Associates, Inktel, Isaco International, Safari, 1st Financial, American Bancshares Mortgage, LLC, National Molding, Lotspeich and Oliva Cigar.
Education
Public schools
Miami-Dade County Public Schools serves Miami Lakes.
K–8 schools
- Bob Graham Education Center
- Miami Lakes K-8 Center
Middle schools
- Miami Lakes Middle School
High schools
- Barbara Goleman Senior High School
- Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School
Magnet schools
- Miami Lakes Educational Center
Private schools
- Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic School
Parks and recreation
The Town of Miami Lakes has 100+ parks, mini parks, tot lots, green-ways and trails located throughout, including Miami Lakes Optimist Park, Veterans Park and Royal Oaks Park.
Transportation
Miami Lakes is serviced by several Miami-Dade metrobus routes, including the 37, 54, and 75.
Cultural institutions
Veterans Memorial
Miami Lakes has a unique indoor veterans memorial located at the Royal Oaks Park Community Center. The memorial is a 50-foot-long mural that features a combination of two digitized paintings of military scenes throughout U.S. history, wood carvings, stained glass, and hand-made glass mosaics molded from leaves of Miami Lakes' trees. The centerpiece of the artwork consists of the seals from each of the US military service branches and the POW/MIA seal. The memorial was inaugurated on Memorial Day of 2011. The artists are Alfred Darmanin and Michelle Stecco.
The veterans memorial titled "V is for Veterans" was unveiled in front of Miami Lakes Town Hall on September 4, 2014. The artwork was created by Stephanie Jaffe Werner.
Public libraries
- Miami Lakes Branch Library
Places of worship
- Elevate Church
- Hope at Miami Lakes Methodist Church
- Miami Lakes United Church of Christ
- Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church
Theaters and performance arts
- Main Street Players is a local performing arts space producing live theatrical events using community talent and volunteers.
Festivals and events
- Fourth of July Concert and Fireworks Show
- Main Street Festival of Lights
- Miami Lakes Cars for a Cure
- Miami Lakes Farmers Market
- Miami Lakes Food and Wine Festival
- Nightmare on Montrose Halloween Event
- Pumpkin Patch
- Spring Fling Easter Egg Hunt
- Veterans Day Parade; the longest running Veterans Day Parade in all of Miami-Dade County.
Sports
- Miami Lakes Bandits
- Miami Lakes United Soccer Club
Media
The Miami Laker serves as the community newspaper for the town of Miami Lakes and surrounding areas in northwest Miami-Dade County.
Notable people
- Humberto Brenes, Costa Rican professional poker player
- Harry P. Cain, American politician
- Adrian Cárdenas, American professional baseball second baseman
- Harry Wayne Casey, American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
- Bob Graham, American lawyer, author and politician
- Gwen Graham, American lawyer and politician
- Don Shula, American professional football player and coach
- Sara Sidner, American TV reporter