<P> Economic prosperity in the 1920s stimulated tourism to Florida and related development of hotels and resort communities . Combined with its sudden elevation in profile was the Florida land boom of the 1920s, which brought a brief period of intense land development . Devastating hurricanes in 1926 and 1928, followed by the Great Depression, brought that period to a halt . Florida's economy did not fully recover until the military buildup for World War II . </P> <P> In 1939, Florida was described as "still very largely an empty State ." Subsequently, the growing availability of air conditioning, the climate, and a low cost of living made the state a haven . Migration from the Rust Belt and the Northeast sharply increased Florida's population after 1945 . In the 1960s, many refugees from Cuba fleeing Fidel Castro's communist regime arrived in Miami at the Freedom Tower, where the federal government used the facility to process, document and provide medical and dental services for the newcomers . As a result, the Freedom Tower was also called the "Ellis Island of the South ." In recent decades, more migrants have come for the jobs in a developing economy . </P> <P> With a population of more than 18 million according to the 2010 census, Florida is the most populous state in the southeastern United States and the third-most populous in the United States . </P> <P> After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, a large population of Puerto Ricans began moving to Florida to escape the widespread destruction . Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans arrived in Florida after Maria dissipated, with nearly half of them arriving in Orlando and large populations also moving to Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach . </P>

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