New Yorkers are leaving the Empire State for sunnier shores, according to stats from Florida’s DMV.
According to data sent to us from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 51,108 New Yorkers moved to Florida between April 2020 and April 2021. The data is based on out-of-state driver licenses reciprocated to a Florida Class E driver licenses, so that may not even be all-encompassing if new residents didn’t update their license. And of course, this represents the state as a whole, not New York City specifically.
In the same period the previous year (April 2019 to April 2020), there were 43,380 moves. That marks a 17.8% increase to account for the pandemic (which is still ongoing).
The largest exodus numbers appear to be September 2020 and March 2021, when monthly movers from New York numbered over 5,000.
In an ABC News article that interviewed locals who relocated, many cited: more outdoor activities, no more winter, better tax rates and quality of life as reasons for their splits.
Florida real estate agents told the outlet that the highest number of her clients fled to the sunshine state at the end of 2020 when New York and New Jersey were shut down. She also mentioned that many clients started remote working in Florida during the pandemic, and then just decided to stay. Most of her clients are still keeping a home in NYC, but are downsizing and making FL their main residence.
In interviews with local Palm Beach newscast WPTV, new Florida residents from New York cited more space and open schools as additional reasons for the big move.
From 2019-2021, the three most popular Florida counties New Yorkers moved to were (in order): Palm Beach, Broward (where Fort Lauderdale is), and Miami-Dade.