New Residents Flooding Into Florida Bring Billions With Them: Report

Florida Chamber of Commerce mid-year report shows state's income swelling with surging population

After being closed to visitors during Florida's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, people visit Clearwater Beach after Gov. Ron DeSantis announces Florida beach re-openings on May 04, 2020. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

People moving to Florida have brought with them almost $40 billion in net annual income, according to a report by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

In the organization’s 2023 Florida Business and Economic Mid-Year Report, chamber president Mark Wilson wrote that this year, “Florida is reflecting another year of population growth, wealth migration, more jobs, and a flourishing economy.”

The chamber’s goal is to make Florida a “Top 10 Global Economy” by 2030, Mr. Wilson wrote.

If the state were an independent country, its economy would be ranked 16th globally, figures from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show.

A cruise ship waits for people to embark before leaving PortMiami in Miami, Fla., on Dec. 31, 2021. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

As the state’s population grows, so does its wealth, thanks to the income of newcomers moving from other states.

More than half of the $39.2 billion income influx from 2020 to 2021 came from residents moving in from just five states.

The states that lost the most annual net income to Florida with those relocations were New York by $9.8 billion; Illinois by $3.9 billion; New Jersey by $3.8 billion; California by $3.5 billion; and Pennsylvania by $1.9 billion.

The figures are based on the latest available data from the IRS, a chamber spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email.

4x Bigger than Texas

Florida’s net migration revenue, at $39.2 billion, was four times that of the second-ranking state, Texas, which gained $10.9 billion over the same period.

“I think we’ve had more wealth move into Florida in the last three years than has ever moved into a single state over a similar period of time in all of American history,” Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, told members of the American Legislative Exchange Council at their annual meeting in Orlando on July 26.

Much of the money has flowed to South Florida. Miami-Dade County gained $7.4 billion in net annual income and Palm Beach gained $7.2 billion.

The next three highest gains were in Southwest Florida: Collier County gained $4.9 billion, Lee County gained $2.4 billion, and Sarasota County gained $2.3 billion of net annual income.

A popular retirement destination, Florida is seeing its demographics change. Those 80 and older now number 5 percent of the population.

The chamber projects they will make up 8 percent by 2035 and 10 percent by 2050.

The group made up of residents 65-79 is expected to remain about the same. Younger age groups are expected to drop by a percentage point or two, chamber analysts predict.

Traffic slows to a standstill for miles on northbound Interstate 75 in Gainesville, Fla., on June 23, 2023. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

Hispanics, now making up about 27 percent of the Florida population, will reach 32 percent by 2050, analysts predict.

As he runs for president, Mr. DeSantis likes to talk about residents of blue states—like those bringing the Top 5 amounts of wealth— as “voting with their feet.” They’ve made Florida the No. 1 state where people have relocated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

READ MORE

• Florida Becomes Nation’s Inflation Hot Spot, Housing a Major Contributor

“I would point out, though, that the people are leaving those woke states and they’re migrating to states like Florida who are doing it differently,” Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, said in an interview with actor, activist, and podcaster Russell Brand on July 21.

Mr. DeSantis touts Florida’s pro-business and anti-regulatory climate as part of the reason it’s drawing so many new residents. He also points to the state’s radical departure from the federal government’s public-health policies in response to the pandemic.

And he believes the state’s cultural stance against wokeness is another reason individuals and businesses have pulled up stakes elsewhere and planted roots in Florida.

Two Arabian horses graze in a pasture at a home in Alachua, Fla., on May 18, 2023. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

The chamber’s mid-year report tracks the growth of different economic sectors contributing to Florida’s $1.47 trillion gross domestic product (GDP). It shows a state economy rapidly diversifying from its traditional base in tourism, retirement, construction, and agriculture.

From the first calendar quarter 2019 to the first quarter in 2023, the information sector grew more than 33 percent, and professional and business services grew almost 31 percent. Financial activities rose more than 18 percent.

All industries averaged growth of more than 14 percent. Those growing at slower rates included education and health services; manufacturing and government; trade, transportation, and utilities, considered a single sector; and leisure and hospitality.

Construction, mining, and logging all decreased over that time. The category of mining and logging includes forestry, fishing, and hunting, the chamber spokeswoman told The Epoch Times.

The largest sectors of Florida’s economy include financial activities, professional and business services, trade, transportation, and utilities. They make up 58 percent of its GDP.

The report notes that nearly 12 percent of Floridians ages 16-24 are “disconnected”—neither employed nor in school. They have neither the necessary job skills to be hired, nor the ability to finance an education.

That percentage tracks with other large states, which range from 11 to 14 percent.

The state should consider them “opportunity youth,” the chamber notes in the report. The business community in the state has the opportunity to target them for skills training and assistance in higher education, it said.