Here are how many New Yorkers moved to Florida in 2023, and why they’re moving
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Overall in the U.S., 8.2 million people left their state and moved to another one in 2022, a 3.8% increase over 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A USA TODAY report detailed the roughly 545,500 residents who left the Empire State in 2022, many of them heading to the Sunshine State.
The data shows that 91,201 New Yorkers moved to Florida in 2022. The population of Florida in 2022 was 22,244,823, which was a 1.91% increase from 2021's population of 21,828,069.
Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that Florida was the nation’s fastest-growing state for the first time since 1957. What's been driving the migration trend from New York to Florida? And what do officials have to say about it?
Why are New Yorkers relocating to Florida?
According to data from the Census Bureau, the New York has topped the list for sending its residents to the Florida since 2016.
According to past USA TODAY reports, some of the top reasons why New Yorkers are trading in their state driver’s licenses for a Florida one are the draw of warmer weather, fewer taxes and Florida's pandemic-era government lockdown policies.
In September 2020, while the coronavirus was still spreading and much more deadly, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted all restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in the state and banned local fines against people who refused to wear masks in an effort to reopen the state’s economy. The move still appeals to many even three years later.
Jackie Bild, a real estate agent at Douglas Elliman based in Miami, told USA TODAY that she has worked with a lot of New Yorkers moving to the state, especially since the pandemic. She said since March 2023, roughly 30% of her buyers in the past year were from New York City and more than half of her clients in the past two years have been from out of town.
"People talk about the Florida lifestyle and weather, but they also say government policy, like when during COVID when our city was more open and lenient on things, as another reason why they came here," she said back in March.
What age groups are mostly moving to Florida?
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey showed that Florida gained members of every generation, from millennials to baby boomers in 2021. New York, however, experienced a net loss of every generation except Gen Z, the youngest adults.
Is Florida cheaper than New York?
Bild said in the report that "Florida is still affordable – for New Yorkers."
In January of this year, the median sale price of a home in New York state was $486,200. In Florida, it was $386,500.
However, RealtyHop’s Housing Affordability Index, released in December, examined the share of income U.S. households would have to spend on homeownership costs. Miami turned out to be the least affordable city in the U.S., followed by Los Angeles and New York.
What are the top reasons in general Americans are moving?
The top reason Americans moved in 2022 were to improve their quality of life, with nearly a quarter of people saying it was the most important factor in why they moved states, according to a survey from Home Bay, a California-based real estate brokerage.
Other top reasons why Americans moved included living in a cheaper area, getting a bigger home, upsizing, work flexibility and major life changes.
What are the top 10 states New Yorkers are heading to?
These states had the largest influx of former New York residents in 2022:
Florida: 91,201
New Jersey: 75,103
Connecticut: 50,670
Pennsylvania: 44,807
California: 31,255
Texas: 30,890
North Carolina: 25,024
Massachusetts: 21,186
Virginia: 17,516
Georgia: 16,535
Which states did New Yorkers seem to avoid in 2022?
Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Mississippi and South Dakota all had fewer than 500 people move from New York in 2022, USA TODAY reported.
What has DeSantis said about the influx of new Floridians over the years?
DeSantis has often acknowledged the state's population growth as a major plus.
In various speeches over the past year, the governor tends to single out two Democratic states for their declining populations — California and New York. He even pointed out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a debate in November about how 51,000 Californians flocked to Florida last year.
"He’s the first governor to ever lose population," DeSantis said during the debate. "They actually, at one point, ran out of U-Hauls in the state of California because so many people were leaving."
In January 2022, U-Haul said that it ran out of one-way trucks and trailers in California at the start of 2021 due to the large demand of people moving out of California in 2020, leaving fewer trucks.
Contributing reporting: Sara Chernikoff and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamyt, USA Today Network
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Thousands of New Yorkers are relocating to Florida. Data shares why
