From New York to Florida

New Yorkers continue to move to Florida in droves amid a pandemic, according to recent statistics.

According to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 51,108 New Yorkers moved to the sunshine state between April 2020 and April 2021. The data is based on driver's licences that have been replaced by Florida Class E licences so it may not be a comprehensive statistic if new residents are not renewing their licences.

During the same period last year (April 2019 to April 2020) there were 43,380 moves. This represents an increase of 17.8 per cent.

The highest number of moves were in September 2020 and March 2021, when there were more than 5,000 monthly arrivals from New York.

In an ABC News article that interviewed locals who moved, many cited: more outdoor activities, the absence of winter, better tax rates and quality of life as reasons for the change of residence.

Florida real estate agents report that the largest number of their clients fled to the sunshine state in late 2020, when New York and New Jersey were shut down. They also mentioned that many clients started working remotely in Florida during the pandemic and then simply decided to stay.

In an interview with a local Palm Beach news outlet, new Florida residents cited increased housing and open schools as additional reasons for the big move.

From 2019-21, the three most popular counties in Florida for New Yorkers to move to were Palm Beach, Broward (where Fort Lauderdale is located) and Miami-Dade.