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| Central Florida is considered the number one destination in the United States and attracts more visitors than any other amusement/theme park in the country. The job market in Central Florida relies heavily on tourism which is the largest sector of the state economy. Warm weather and hundreds of miles of beaches attract about 60 million visitors to the state every year. Amusement parks, especially in the Orlando area, make up a significant portion of tourism; the huge Walt Disney World Resort consists of four theme parks and more than 20 hotels in Lake Buena Vista, and together with Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, and other major parks drives state tourism. The Florida Keys and Daytona Beach (famous as a spring break site) are also tourism centers. Florida is the nation's third-fastest-growing state[24] due to its high job growth, mild climate, and relatively low cost of living. As Florida experiences a major population boom, most of its rural areas and cities are too experiencing changes, helping to compensate for the population increase. | Srvice 1 | Ten largest cities in Florida | City | 2000 | 2006 | | Jacksonville | 735,617 | 782,623 | | Miami | 362,470 | 404,048 | | Tampa | 303,447 | 332,888 | | St. Petersburg | 248,232 | 248,098 | | Hialeah | 226,419 | 228,334 | | Orlando | 185,951 | 220,186 | | Ft. Lauderdale | 152,397 | 185,804 | | Tallahassee | 150,624 | 159,012 | | Pembroke Pines | 137,427 | 150,064 | | Hollywood | 139,357 | 145,794 | |
|  | A large part of the Orlando area economy is involved in the tourist industry. Over 48 million visitors came to the Orlando region in 2004. The convention industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet (200,000 m²) of exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the United States.
There is a very low unemployment rate in Greater Orlando of 3.1% as of March 2007.[11] The result is explosive growth that has led to urban sprawl in the surrounding area and skyrocketing housing prices. Housing prices in Greater Orlando went up 34% in one year, from an average of $182,000 in August 2004 to $245,000 in August 2005, and eventually to a record $255,000 in February 2007. They are tapering off, however, down to $241,900 in April 2007.
Due to this, many young adults and those in the lower class are having a difficult time finding housing within Orange County. A spring 2006 Orlando Sentinel article stated that in order to afford rent for a single bedroom apartment in Orange County one would be forced to earn at least a $20 per hour wage.
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| Orlando once leaned heavily on Disney World and its service-sector spinoffs to prop up its economy, but these days it's pulling in life sciences, digital media, and health-care companies with affordable (or subsidized) land and tax breaks. Electronic Arts; Hollywood animation firm House of Moves; and Burnham Institute, a top-rated cancer research center, are all expanding and adding jobs here. Despite the housing slump, such diversification will help Orlando crank out 72,600 new jobs this year and next.
Most of the hiring will still come from the region's tourism backbone. But Orlando will also post higher growth in professional-services jobs--everything from office managers to advertising account executives--than any other city on our list. The high-wage, white-collar category is projected to balloon by about 15 percent. The reason: Orlando's population is expected to expand by 150,000 by decade's end.
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