The city of Miami, Florida serves as the seat of Miami-Dade County. The Miami-Dade County has a population more than 2.5 million inhabitants, whereas the city alone serves roughly 400,000 inhabitants. Located in the southern part of the state on the Atlantic coastline, Miami has long been associated with tourism. Then again, the region's economy extends beyond tourism to consist of finance, commerce, media, culture, fashion, the arts, entertainment and international trade. Miami is a major leader in these sectors. It places thirty-third among international cities.
The city places value on clean water, air quality, green spaces, tidy streets and recycling programs. Therefore, Miami was named "America's Cleanest City" by Forbes magazine in 2008.
Situated within the downtown area of Miami and within South Florida is the nations largest concentration of international banks. There are more than 150 financial institutions within the Miami area. There are many international and national businesses located here, including the transportation company, Ryder System. Many Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered here, the largest being Lennar. As a gateway to South and Central America, Miami is home to the Latin American operations of Cisco, Disney, Exxon, FedEx, Microsoft, SBC Communications, Sony, Oracle and various corporations. Miami Civic Center has medical centers, research institutes and biotechnology companies.
The Port of Miami serves as the top cruise passenger port within the globe, making the city of Miami the "Cruise Capital of the World." The city's busy cargo port has ships departing to and arriving from Latin America every day. The Miami International Airport (MIA) has the third largest international passenger traffic within the country. The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport or also known as FLL is situated here, and is rapidly growing into a busy airport in terms of passenger volume.