You may be surprised to know that a lot of New Yorkers have considered moving/fleeing to the state of Florida over other states in the USA. Florida has had a high migration rate in the US according to the U.S Census Bureau. Florida has always been noted as a getaway for New Yorkers but recent data shows that New Yorkers have been keeping Florida as their first choice when it comes to finding a new home. There are a few reasons that can be blamed for this recent choice of the New Yorkers and one of them can be the increase in freedom and the other being lesser taxes in the state of Florida.
In the recent COVID-19 period, the numbers have increased by a lot as well. According to data by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, more than 33,000 New Yorkers have applied for a driver's license in the state of Florida in a time period of 7 months ranging from September 2020 to March 2021. The numbers when compared with the data for the same time period in the previous year showed a 32% increase. Another reason in the COVID-19 scenario that might have caused this is that Florida has no Lockdowns currently. With New York still struggling with COVID infections, the state has to maintain constant lockdowns while at the same time charging their residents with crazy taxes.
A lot of New Yorkers have lost their jobs since last year and paying the taxes together with the expensive lifestyle in NYC has resulted in them taking the decision of moving elsewhere with Florida being given the highest preference. Residents of Manhattan are supposed to pay City Tax, state tax, and Federal Tax while in Florida the residents are exempted from income taxes. Real Estate Agents in Florida have been saying that the real estate industry in Florida has been blooming with sales and most of the customers are from NYC, with all of them blaming COVID and taxes as a reason for leaving. The recent surge in new residents from New York has caused Florida to have a low supply of fresh Real Estate as there are more people rushing in with each passing day and all of them are looking for a house to live in, while some are also paying more than the asking price to secure a spot.
The U.S. Census Bureau has stated that there has been a huge decline in the population of New York state. If the current rate of the decrease in the population of New York continues it is also going to cause them to lose two congressional seats by the 2022 reapportionment. Not only that, due to the recent lockdowns in New York have caused schools, colleges, and Universities to remain closed which has resulted in a decline in new admissions in public schools with numbers being at 2.6 Million, being the lowest in thirty years. According to more data from the Census Bureau it was visible that 46 out of New York's 62 counties had a high rate of population decline for the time period of 2010 - 2018.
Florida's lack of state income tax has turned it into an ideal place for all people to move in especially during the pandemic when a lot of people have been facing serious financial issues. ISG Miami World's report said that more than 1000 individuals are flocking into Florida everyday with most of them moving in in West Palm Beach. Other than the factors we have mentioned above it is also the lifestyle in West Palm Beach all the way up to Miami that is influencing more people to move there. The serenity together with the great view of the Atlantic ocean has been pulling more people in. What used to be a place for retired individuals has turned into a party hub as more younger people are flocking into this cool land.
What is strange is that even with a lot of media outlets bashing Florida for their decision to lift lockdowns and strict restrictions to curb COVID. The move received a lot of criticism but Florida proved them all wrong. FEE reported that the mortality rate of Florida was 30-35% lower than states that had implemented strict lockdowns and other restrictions. This has only shown that US residents preferred freedom for their families over bigger governments.
More and more New Yorkers are going to be moving from NYC to Florida in the next few months and this may continue for a good number of years as well. The population of New York is going to keep going down unless they bring down some of the strict policies that are placed there. For someone considering moving to Florida right now, the decision wouldn't be bad with no state taxes being levied on the residents of Florida. This would save a lot of money for New Yorkers as they would not have to pay the multiple types of taxes they usually pay.
