13 mind-blowing facts about Florida's economy

Florida's gross domestic product reached $1 trillion in 2018. If Florida were an independent nation, it would have the 17th-largest GDP in the world, ranking just behind Indonesia and above Turkey, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Argentina.

Disney World's Magic Kingdom calls itself the "Happiest Place on Earth," and the theme park is also one of the busiest.

The greater Walt Disney World Resort has 70,000 employees. According to Disney, that's the largest number of people employed by one company in a single location anywhere in the US.

Disney World needs that huge staff to entertain and serve the huge numbers of visitors that pour through its gates each year. In 2017, 20.45 million people explored the Magic Kingdom. That's almost as many people as live in Florida (20.98 million), the third most populous US state.

"If you believe that, I've got some swampland in Florida to sell you."

People use that phrase to suggest the person they're talking to is gullible, and it's based on the real experience of unfortunate purchasers in Florida who found themselves strapped with land that was too swampy to build on.

According to Florida's attorney general, land scams are not just a thing of the past. If you're buying real estate in Florida, make sure you inspect the property in person first to make sure you're getting what you expect.

But swampland does have value in Florida — if it's left alone.

The Everglades, which are actually wetlands and not technically a swamp, are a major tourist destination, but they are fragile. As Florida development boomed in the last century, more than half the original 4 million acres of the Everglades was drained and the water flow was reduced by more than two thirds. Data compiled by the Clean Water Fund show that $11.5 billion spent to restore this majestic wetland will result in a $46.5 billion boost to the Florida economy, including real estate development and the benefits of cleaner water and better habitat.

The National Park Service, which administers Everglades National Park, estimates that the Glades, as they are known in Florida, generated $104.5 million in economic benefits in 2014.

The next best thing to buying swampland is a home that might be literally underwater.

Miami may be the US city most in danger of being swallowed by rising seas due to climate change. One 2018 report said 12,000 Miami Beach homes are in danger of chronic flooding within the next 30 years.

Yet Trulia reports that both rents and home prices continue to rise there. Developers are still building mansions by the beach and sales to foreign real-estate investors are booming.

Hey, want to buy some beachfront property in Miami? Rowboat included.

The optimism in the Miami area real-estate market may be due, at least in part, to efforts like Miami Beach's $500 million plan to combat rising oceans. The plan includes a pumping system to drain streets prone to sunny-day floods, and elevating city streets. The question is whether it will be enough. The Miami Herald reported that, by 2070, sunny-day flooding could become everyday flooding in this coastal community.

Miami isn't the only part of Florida that has to contend with the destructive forces of nature. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida has the most losses because of catastrophic events of any state in the US. In the 30 years between 1986 and 2015, insured losses alone amounted to $68.6 billion.

Florida is in the path of hurricanes with increasingly damaging winds, like 2017's Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds.

Florida has been famous for its orange crop and orange juice since Anita Bryant first plugged it in the 1970s. The state still produces more than 70% of the citrus in the US.

So you might be surprised to find out that Florida is home to nine out of the top 25 beef producers in the US. While the orange crop is the state's biggest agricultural output, its No. 1 international agricultural export is actually meat.

The Sunshine State has long been a magnet for retirees. Slightly more than 19% of Florida's population is over 65, according to Pew Research, compared to 15% of the US population as a whole.

Meanwhile, Sumter County, outside Orlando, is the only county in the US where the majority of its residents are over 65, with about 53% of its population having reached retirement age, according to Pew. The next highest county is Charlotte County, also in Florida, at about 38%.

When you think of Florida, you might think of Disney World, Key West, and a Florida man who brought his alligator on a beer run. But most of Florida is none of these things. Two thirds of Florida is farmland, according to a 2018 report from the University of Florida.

Florida is a major agricultural state, but farm products aren't even among its 10 most common foreign exports. Florida's No. 1 foreign export is airplanes and aircraft parts, according to census data.

Tourists flock to Florida's 663 miles of beaches and warm climate. Tourism, Florida's biggest industry, contributed $111.7 billion to the state's economy in 2016. While much of that money went to hotels and recreation, other sectors of the Florida economy get a big boost from out-of-towners. Visitors spent almost $16 billion on retail purchases as well.

Florida is known as the Sunshine State, but until recently, all that sun didn't translate into solar energy.

Scientific American reported that while Florida has the eighth-highest potential for solar-energy generation in the US, it creates less than Vermont, which gets 2.4% of its energy from solar.

But Florida may be in store for a solar-energy boom, the article noted. Solar employment rose 21% in Florida last year, according to the Orlando Sentinel, with residential solar installation accounting for 63% of those jobs.