Florida’s Affordability Advantage Is Gone: Inside the Sharp Drop in East Coast Migration to Miami

For decades, South Florida drew waves of retirees and working families from high-priced East Coast cities with the promise of cheaper living, but today that affordability advantage is gone.Soaring expenses have caught would-be movers' attention, triggering a sharp drop in net migration across the Sunshine State. A June report from the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida found that migration to Florida from other parts of the U.S. shrank to 201,191 people at a rate of roughly 551 per day. That represents a dramatic pullback from the post-pandemic era peak in 2022, when the state attracted 598,737 new residents, averaging 1,640 per day. According to the report, high-cost Miami-Dade, anchored by the city of Miami, led the state in domestic outmigration, losing nearly 73,000 residents to other counties and states last year. New York City consistently ranks as Miami's No. 1 out-of-state domestic feeder metro, yet Florida's glamorous "Magic City" has increasingly shifted from an affordable destination for everyday buyers into a playground for high earners.A new analysis of Realtor.com® cross-market data reveals that home shoppers from New York City accounted ...