Wealthy transplants are reshaping Florida’s housing market, pushing out the middle class and the workers who keep the state’s economy running, according to a report.
The average income of people moving to Florida from another state was $122,530, the highest among all U.S. states, according to Gay Cororaton, chief economist for the Miami Realtors. “This wealth migration has been the primary factor driving up prices,” Cororaton told Fortune.
Florida gained more wealth from high-earning transplants than any other state in 2023, absorbing a net $137 billion in income from other states between 2019 and 2023, according to Miami Realtors’ analysis of IRS migration data.
Housing Costs Cross The Breaking Point
The statewide median single-family home price stands at roughly $420,000 against a median household income of about $77,000, producing a price-to-income ratio above 5.4. In Miami-Dade, the share of million-dollar homes surged from 8% in 2019 to 28% in the first quarter of 2026. Florida’s average annual home insurance premium is $8,292, or 181% above the national average, according to Insurify.
Housing economists flag households as cost-burdened when shelter costs exceed 30% of income. Nationally, that threshold is being breached across multiple states, with mortgage and energy costs consuming as much as 50% of median household income in some markets.
Credit history can further compound insurance costs. State lawmakers in Iowa, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania are pushing to ban insurers from using credit-based scores to set premiums a practice that can push homeowners insurance costs 24% higher for low-score buyers, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The U.S. housing market faces a structural shortfall of at least 10 million single-family homes, driven by zoning constraints, permitting delays and rising construction costs, according to the Council of Economic Advisers. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 6.38%, a six-month high.
Cash Buyers Shut Out Local Residents
About 39% of Miami home purchases and 48% of West Palm Beach purchases were all-cash in recent years. For luxury condos above $1 million in Miami, 82% of sales in 2025 were all-cash, Cororaton said.
In March, the typical home sat on the market for 56 days, while homes that went under contract sold in just 19 days the widest gap for any March since 2020, according to Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:Z).
Nearly half of Floridians surveyed in a November 2025 Florida Atlantic University poll said they have considered leaving the state because of the cost of living.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock/ Gorodenkoff
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