US Map / Cities / Hialeah

Hialeah Map

Hialeah lies on the drained inland edge of Miami-Dade County, and a larger share of its residents are Cuban-American than in any other city in the United States.

Where is Hialeah?

Hialeah is in southeastern Florida, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Miami and immediately north of Miami International Airport. Fort Lauderdale is roughly 25 miles north, Port St. Lucie about 120 miles up the coast, and Tampa some 270 miles northwest. The western edge of the city runs into the levee that holds back the Everglades — beyond it there is no more development, only water conservation area.

Hialeah at a glance

Hialeah in Florida

Hialeah is in Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and one of the largest on the Florida county map, most of which is Everglades rather than city. It is the second-largest city in the county after Miami and one of eight Florida cities among the hundred largest — more than any state except California and Texas. Spanish is the working language of most of the city. The Florida state page puts it in the wider south Florida picture.

Canals, the airport and the edge of the Everglades

The land here was sawgrass marsh a century ago. The Miami Canal, cut northwest from the Miami River toward Lake Okeechobee, drained it and gave the city its main axis; several other straight canals cross the area, and the whole drainage system is managed rather than natural. The limestone beneath is porous, so the Biscayne Aquifer under Hialeah is both the region's drinking water and the reason a levee is needed to keep the Everglades on one side and the suburbs on the other. Wellfields on the city's western fringe supply much of the county. Being wedged between the airport, the rail yards and the water line gave Hialeah a warehouse and light-manufacturing economy that the coastal cities never had, and Hialeah Park's racetrack survives as its best-known landmark.

Cities near Hialeah

Nearby are Miami, Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Tampa and Orlando. For where they all fall on the peninsula, open the US map with cities.