05/11/2026
Florida’s migration patterns are changing dramatically. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/3P7j5TC
Residents in their prime working years are heading to other states, often citing affordability concerns. At the same time, the stream of people arriving from other states is shrinking.
Meanwhile, an influx of wealthy people from other states—turbocharged during the pandemic—has helped drive up home prices.
Sydney Buckley and her husband, René Barajas Jr., moved out of the West Palm Beach area, which is now a net loser of domestic migrants, last September. Paying $2,000 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment, they searched for a house to buy, but couldn’t find any within their budget.
After researching cities around the country that were affordable and offered a good work-life balance, the couple decided to move to Greenville, S.C. They bought a newly built home for $355,000—with a monthly mortgage payment only $100 more than what they were spending on rent—and they pay much less in property taxes and insurance than what they would have faced in Florida.
Their combined income of about $160,000 a year—from her work as a speech pathologist and his as an employment coordinator—stretches farther in Greenville, allowing them to dine out regularly and vacation abroad.
