Goodbye snow, hello palm trees, more people moving to Florida
MIAMI - A recent report shows more young people are moving south, leaving once-popular destinations like New York and California. A survey from U-Haul found that in 2023, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, and Tennessee welcomed the largest number of new residents.
One recent transplant is Daniela Lopez. On a recent cold winter morning, she was packing up and moving out of her studio apartment on Manhattan's east side and headed for Florida.
"I want to start a new life and I was like why not Miami?" Lopez said.
New York was near the bottom of the list, according to U-Haul. California came in dead last. The state saw the largest number of people leaving for the fourth year in a row.
"It's mostly young people," said Marco Filipovic, a foreman at Piece of Cake Moving. "Every day someone is moving to the Florida area."
Florida's been a popular destination for a while - this is the ninth year in a row the Sunshine State's ranked among U-Haul's top four places to move.
"I think these people, these families want space," said Miltiadis Kastanis, a senior director at real estate company Douglas Elliman in the Miami area. "We have weather, lifestyle. I think the trend is people love Miami."
The number of people moving to South Florida has created a housing crunch, leaving some native Floridians unable to keep up with rising prices. Still, for Lopez prices in Miami are a deal compared to New York. For nearly the same cost she got an apartment three times the size of the one she had in Manhattan. She also has an office and a wraparound deck.
"I'm trying something different - if Miami is not it, I know I have New York," she said. "I can always go back."
Other top growth states to round out the top 10 include Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, and Virginia.