It’s an escape from New York.
More than 125,000 New Yorkers have fled for Florida in recent years — taking nearly $14 billion worth of income out of the Empire State, a new report found.
About a third of those Big Apple residents — some 41,251 — flocked to sunny Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward Counties, over a five-year period, according to data from the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan New York-based fiscal watchdog.
Escapes to those three counties alone between 2018 and 2022 resulted in an approximately $10 billion reduction in New York City’s adjusted gross income.
And that’s not counting the additional $3.8 billion from the more than 85,000 others who relocated to other parts of the Sunshine State.
Those skedaddling out of the city are doing so because they are “getting something more beneficial to them” elsewhere, said CBC President Andrew Rein.
“The key is with any place you need the benefits to outweigh the cost. The question right now for New York is what do we offer?” he told The Post Thursday. “We have to make sure the benefits of being in New York are worth the cost.”
The report chalked up the mass migration to factors including lingering effects of the pandemic, as well as general affordability, quality-of-life concerns and safety.
Rein noted the percentage of New Yorkers who said life in the city was “good or excellent” dropped from 50% pre-pandemic to just 30% last year.
“That’s a significant drop. We need New Yorkers to want to be here, and right now they’re saying the quality of life is not what they want,” he said.
Many of those departing were high-wage earners, stripping the city of additional economic activity, the report found.
The approximately 26,000 people who moved from New York to Miami-Dade county had a per-capita income of over $266,000 – while those who moved to Palm Beach County earned a sturdy $189,000.
The loss of wealthy New Yorkers is significant, due to the top 1% of city tax filers contributing 40% of the state’s income taxes, according to CBC.
“One of the critical issues of our time is keeping our competitiveness for businesses and residents. We need to focus on ensuring we don’t tax too much, that we are a safe place to live, and that people find quality of life to be high,” Rein said.
“We’re in vigorous competition to keep people and make sure they move here.”
Florida wasn’t the only locale gaining income as residents fled New York City, the report noted, finding that many stayed in the Northeast.
Long Island increased its population by some 138,000 NYC expats during that same five-year period, resulting in another $11.1 billion drop in adjusted gross income for the city between Nassau and Suffolk counties.
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$13.8 billion in income left for Florida in 5 years, including:
- 15,818 NYC residents fled to Miami-Dade County, for a $6.1B loss in income
- 13,222 NYC residents fled to Palm Beach County, for a $3.1B loss in income
- 12,211 NYC residents fled to Broward County, for a $809.3M loss in income
Nearly 60,000 ex-city dwellers also moved to Westchester County in that time, depriving the Big Apple of another $5 billion worth of income.
Fairfield County, Connecticut saw another 31,000 ex-New Yorkers take up residence, lowering New York City’s income by another $4.9 billion.
Tony Bergen County, New Jersey accounted for another $1.8 billion in reduced income for NYC, and a population decline of over 30,000 residents.
Combined, these relocations within the Northeast cost New York City $22.8 billion in income and resulted in a population drop of more than 230,000 residents.
Fairfield County’s newfound ex-New Yorker residents had a per-capita income of $141,000, and those who left for Suffolk County had a per-capita income of more than $120,000.
CBC data shows New Jersey, Florida, California and Pennsylvania saw the highest concentrations of new residents after the five-year period when New Yorkers picked up and moved out of town.
The number of US millionaires in New York increased from 36,000 to 70,000 between 2010 and 2022, the report found. But its total share of millionaires compared to other states ticked down considerably, dipping from 12.7% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2022 — a more than 31% slide.
“Our competitiveness depends in part on quality of life and public safety,” Rein said in a press briefing before the report was released Wednesday.
“That’s the value proposition. If you feel safe and you enjoy your life, you’re going to want to be here,” he said. “Simply put, though, some people found the value proposition of other places to be higher than New York City.”
