New Yorkers with six-figure salaries who fled to Miami have saved between $50,000 and $200,000 a year due to lower taxes and cheaper cost of living
- High earners can save nearly a third by moving from NYC to Miami, study finds
- Someone making $650,000 in Manhattan can save $195,000 in Miami
- Lower taxes and cost of living are responsible for the big savings
A worker earning $650,000 in Manhattan would have saved nearly $200,000 per year by moving to Miami, due to lower taxes and cost of living, a new study finds.
Six-figure earners can save roughly a third of their income and shave up to 10 points off their effective tax rate by making the move from New York to Miami, according to research from SmartAsset published on Thursday.
The study compared cost savings for high earners moving from either Chicago, San Francisco, or Manhattan to Miami, and found that the savings were 'most drastic' for New Yorkers.
That's due in part to Manhattan's sky-high cost of living, which is 138 percent higher than the US average, compared to 23 percent higher than the average in Miami.
Miami also offers much more favorable tax rates, a difference that is mainly due to Florida's lack of a state income tax.
A worker earning $650,000 in Manhattan could save nearly $200,000 per year by moving to Miami, due to lower taxes and cost of living, a new study finds
While high earners in Manhattan are taxed at an effective rate between 36 percent and 45 percent, in Miami they would be taxed in a range from 27 percent to 35 percent for the same income levels.
For a New Yorker making an annual salary of $150,000, the yearly savings from moving to Miami would total $48,695, the study found.
Housing costs are a significant contributor to the difference in cost of living between New York and Miami.
According to Realtor.com, the median home listing price in Manhattan is $1.6 million, compared to $666,000 in Miami.
SmartAsset also found that high-earners in San Francisco could save significantly by moving to Miami, though the difference is not as large as a move from New York.
The cost of living difference is smaller, with San Francisco costing 83 percent more than average in the US when compared with Miami’s 23 premium.
Overall, six-figure earners would save about 24 percent by moving from San Francisco to Miami.
Housing costs are a significant contributor to the difference in cost of living between New York and Miami, while Florida's lack of a state income tax also benefits workers
Miami North Beach and city skyline are seen from aircraft. Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, driven in part by an influx of wealthy new arrivals moving in from the Northeast
Meanwhile, the difference between moving from Chicago to Miami is negligible.
While taxes are lower in Miami, the difference is almost cancelled out by Chicago's lower cost of living, and high earners could only expect to save 1 to 2 percent of their income by making the move.
Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, driven in part by an influx of wealthy new arrivals moving in from the Northeast.
From April 2020 to July 2022 the Sunshine State added 707,000 residents, representing a gain of 3.3 percent, an increase that was second only to that of Texas.
During the same period, New York and California, which are likewise among the largest states by population, saw the biggest net decreases in residents, each losing more than 500,000.
The shifts reflect an internal migration of substantial proportions, fueling booming population growth in the South that could have economic and political implications for decades to come.
Experts cite a confluence of factors, including the rise of remote work, pandemic health fears about dense urban areas, and concerns over housing costs, high taxes and crime for driving a flood of internal migration toward Sun Belt states.
