NYC lost $9 billion of income to Miami, Palm Beach in five years

A net 30,000 New Yorkers fled the city for Florida’s Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties in the five years through 2022, taking with them a combined $9.2 billion in income, a new report shows.

The two Florida counties gained households earning well above six figures, according to the report released Wednesday by the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog. Almost 20,000 people with a per capita income of about $190,000 left New York City for Palm Beach during that time, while more than 26,000 individuals with a per capita income of about $266,000 went to Miami-Dade, according to the group. 

The coronavirus pandemic, the cost of living and some quality-of-life concerns have made other parts of the country more attractive for some New York City residents. States like New Jersey, Florida, California and Pennsylvania gained residents relocating from New York during the span covered in the report, according to the CBC data.

“Our competitiveness depends in part on quality of life and public safety,” CBC President Andrew Rein said during a media briefing prior to the release of the data. “That’s the value proposition. If you feel safe and you enjoy your life, you’re going to want to be here.”

Not everyone leaving the city left the state. A net of nearly 138,000 city residents relocated to New York’s Long Island during those years, reducing the Big Apple’s adjusted gross income by a combined $11.1 billion, according to the CBC data. Westchester County, just north of the city, gained almost 60,000 net new residents, cutting the city’s adjusted gross income by $5 billion.

While the total number of millionaires in New York swelled from almost 36,000 in 2010 to almost 70,000 in 2022, the state’s share of US millionaires actually declined, according to the report. In 2010, New York was home to 12.7% of the county’s millionaires, a percentage that fell to 8.7% by 2022, even as states like California, Texas and Florida saw their shares of the country’s wealthiest people increase. 

Tracking the movements of New York’s millionaires has become a fraught political issue because the top 1% of the city’s tax filers pay 40% of the income taxes. 

The CBC data also breaks down migration out of the city by race and ethnicity, income and age. Since 2018, New York City’s population loss has been led by its highest earners and also millennials, those born in the 1980s and early 1990s.

New York City’s overall population increased in 2023 and 2024 after six years of decline, due to international migration to the city, the CBC said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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