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So many people in the U.S. have been relocating to Florida that it is pricing out many people who were already living in Florida.

This has to do with trends of population movement within the U.S. and mass migration of people. Movement of people from one place to another ends up having secondary effects, causing additional movement of people out of the areas where the first group of people moved to. People get pushed out by overcrowding and higher housing prices.


Nearly 490,000 Americans left Florida last year for states including Georgia and Texas. The typical mover leaving Florida pulls in $48,000 a year, doesn't own a home, and isn't married.

A Business Insider analysis of individual-level data from the Census Bureau's 2022 ACS, assembled by the University of Minnesota's IPUMS program, found that movers leaving Florida were slightly younger, more often single, and employed at higher rates than movers to Florida.

While many are moving to Florida for its beaches, lack of state income tax, and business opportunities, many are getting priced out or seeking a quieter pace of life.

Slightly more millennials moved from Florida than Gen Z at 32% and 28% respectively. Boomers, who made up nearly 24% of movers to Florida, were only 17.8% of those leaving.

Though a greater percentage are employed, movers leaving Florida had an income of just $47,705 in 2022, compared to $55,115 for those moving in.

David, 58, said in October he was moving to Georgia after nearly 40 years in West Palm Beach. He said he was making the move due to rising property taxes, burdensome home insurance costs, and wealthy newcomers altering the fabric of his community.
"Their attitudes were so different from what everybody was used to; they were demanding people not familiar with the kind of calm lifestyle we were living. The population doubled with people different from others in our neighborhood."

Steve Prevesk, 63 said he was gearing up to move away from Florida and move out west to California or Colorado. He moved to Florida in 2018 for a business opportunity after eight years in California, but the constant heat took a toll on him. "This is uninhabitable, you're walking to your car and you're soaking in sweat."

Kim, 68, who asked to just use her first name for privacy reasons, made a similar decision to move from Florida to another part of the country. After 10 years in Flagler County, she was fed up with how the peaceful community she knew had become much more commercialized as wealthier people had moved in. After her home flooded in 2017 and seeing the politics of her area begin to shift, she decided to move to a mobile home in a small town in northern Vermont, where the cost of living is lower despite much colder weather.​

Meet the typical mover leaving Florida: Millennials who aren't married and make $48,000 departing for Georgia and Texas, Business Insider, Noah Sheidlower, January 3, 2024

A large number of the people moving to Florida are coming from the states of California and New York. In fact, Florida recently surpassed Texas as a destination state for those leaving California.
(source: Fewer Californians are moving to Texas, but more are going to Florida and Arizona , Mike Schneider, Associated Press, October 19, 2023 )

related thread: California's population has spilled over into Texas

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Nearly 730,000 moved to the Sunshine State between 2021 and 2022, while almost 500,000 people left. Insider spoke with several people who have moved in and out of the state since the pandemic began.

Those who moved in love the lifestyle, while those who moved out say the state got too expensive.

Some people love Florida, but some hate it: the Sunshine State is undeniably divisive.

About 730,000 newcomers moved into Florida between July 2021 and July 2022, while 500,000 residents moved out of state, according to census data.

It's part of "the biggest migration" in a generation, said Holly Meyer Lucas, a real-estate agent in South Florida. People are tending to move in droves to lower-tax states, including Florida but also Texas and Arizona, she added. She also said that such dramatic relocation can result in tough realities, especially when wealthier people change the fabric of the new places they settle in, often pricing middle-class locals out.

Take Chris Brown, a 25-year-old startup founder who joined the hordes of folks who moved to Florida in 2020. He left behind chilly Chicago for the sunny shores of Tampa and enjoys biking, swimming, and surfing. But then there are Floridians like Ryan and Jami Wilson, who moved to South Carolina with their two children after becoming frustrated with the state's crowds, rising cost of living, and traffic.

Insider spoke with some Floridians who left because it was too expensive, too crowded, too hot, and too ritzy. They tended to move to places that are smaller and more affordable. We also interviewed several people who moved into the state, who say they love the food, the natural beauty, and the laid-back lifestyle. And experts and real-estate agents described the dynamics causing this movement into and out of the state.​

"Stay or go: Why Americans are drawn to -- or sick of -- living in Florida", Business Insider (News)