ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Florida's Latino population grew fastest last year in counties in the exurbs of Orlando and Tampa.
U.S. Census figures released Thursday also showed strong Latino population growth rates in counties outside Jacksonville, but those areas had small Hispanic populations to start with.
St. Johns County near Jacksonville led the state in Latino population growth rate from July 2015 to July 2016 among counties with more than 100,000 residents.
The Latino population grew 7.5 percent in St. Johns County during that period.
The counties with the next-fastest growth rates were exurbs of Tampa and Orlando: Hernando, Lake, Polk and Pasco counties.
Miami-Dade continued to be the county with Florida's largest Latino community -- about 1.8 million residents, or two-thirds of the county's overall population.