Sweetwater is home to the largest concentration of Nicaraguans and Nicaraguan Americans in the U.S. The city has a total area of .8 square miles in the southwestern area of Miami-Dade County. It is located 15 minutes from downtown Miami and is a well-planned, mostly Hispanic community of homes, apartments and businesses. The Village’s southern boundary is Miami International Airport. It is close to Florida International University and major corporate parks and shopping areas. The City’s population has burgeoned to over 19,000 persons of which more than 94% are of Hispanic origin. The once “sleepy” city can now boast of having a full-service police department and city hall complex, four parks, an elementary school, a county fire station, 6,441 residential housing units, 14 shopping centers, and over 600 businesses.