Miami sits about six feet above sea level between Biscayne Bay and the Everglades, with a river cutting through downtown. Warmth, water and a mix of century-old houses and new towers give termites, roaches and mosquitoes plenty of places to live.
Miami is the seat of Miami-Dade County and counted 442,241 residents in the 2020 census on just 36 square miles of land. Most neighborhoods average around 6 feet above sea level, the highest natural point is 24 feet on the Miami Rock Ridge in Coconut Grove, and the Miami River runs 5.5 miles from the end of the Miami Canal to Biscayne Bay. The wet season lasts from May to October and delivers most of the year's 61.9 inches of rain.
Housing changes block by block. Coral Way was built in 1922 and still has many old homes on tree-lined streets, the Upper Eastside is largely single-family houses from the 1920s through the 1940s, and Edgewater is mostly high-rise residential towers. Brickell is the densest neighborhood in the city. We plan each visit around the building itself: wood and attic checks in older houses, drains and trash rooms in towers.
