As cost of living rises, fewer people are moving to Florida — and more are leaving

Miami Herald ^ | December 17, 2025 | Max Klaver

[Miami Rebel]

Once the darling of American transplants, Florida’s appeal seems to have dimmed. Just three years ago, Florida ranked among the nation’s top destinations for people making a move. But that momentum seems to have faded. Florida still offers the warm climate and favorable tax structure that remain major draws, but it’s lost ground on the crucial affordability factor. In the year through November, just over half of global moving company Atlas Van Lines’ Florida-related moves were inbound, the firm said in its annual Migration Patterns Study — a near-even split between people moving in and moving out that marks a sharp shift from the pandemic era, when Florida ranked among the nation’s strongest inbound states. During the COVID-era peak, 60% of Atlas’ Florida moves were inbound — then the fourth-highest ratio in the country — as the state became the fastest-growing in the U.S., per Census estimates. But in 2025, for the second consecutive year, inbound moves accounted for only about half of the company’s Florida relocations, among the lowest shares Florida has posted in more than a decade. While the moving company cites Florida’s warm climate and lack of a state income tax as serious draws, rising housing costs, insurance premiums and climate concerns are increasingly pushing out residents, said Chellsie Parker, a representative of Atlas. Nationally, moving has slowed to its lowest level in decades. Only about 11% of Americans moved in 2024, down from more than 14% a decade earlier, according to Atlas, thanks in part to high housing costs nationwide.

States such as Arkansas, Idaho and North Carolina — where housing costs are generally lower — topped Atlas’ inbound migration rankings this past year, outpacing Florida’s middle-of-the-pack showing.

[suasponte137]

Ok..so you don’t pay auto either,

That’s a different ballgame for me.

I would consider doing my own thing with Home insurance, but car insurance is just too much risk to me.

With my luck, I’d accidently hit a busload of orphans and Jewish Lawyers while going two miles over the speed limit, and they’d get me for everything i’m worth without an insurance policy to soften the blow.

[Bobbyvotes]

Keep in mind your insurance coverage is a finite amount. Minimum liability insurance required in Florida is $10,000.
Since I am a safe driver, that is all I used to buy. I just got tired of paying $600/year even though I never had an accident caused by me. Let’s assume you have $100,000 liability. You would pay lot more. If you hit a Jewish lawyers car, she will sue you for a million. So you are still liable for $900,000 after insurance pays $100,000.

I have a note pinned to visor. Drive safe, no insurance!
I am retired and don’t drive many miles anyways. During my 23;year job in Chicago I had 70 miles round trip every work day.

[Bobbyvotes]

My house is worth $400kon market. My property tax bill for next year is $2850. Sales tax 6.5%. with no home insurance and cost free self insurance certificate, my living expenses are ridiculously small. So I can go on a Caribbean cruise every month with 90 minutes drive to cruise port.

[suasponte137]

I appreciate that I made you laugh, that was the idea :)

But since we’re swapping insurance stories, I figure I’d give you some insight into my thought process.

First off a quick story, my parents neighbors who are great hard-working people who we’ve known for 30 years had some bad luck about a year ago, where the wife accidentally T-bone a motorcyclist. The bike was destroyed and the driver was severely injured. Long story short they had $250,000 of coverage, and as you said, the lawsuit went straight through that and they moved onto their house from which they had paid off at that point time. So they lost just about everything from literally a two second mistake on the road.

After this happened, I reviewed my own insurance and saw that I had the exact same insurance of $250,000 per accident. So I ended up doing is getting an umbrella policy for $1 million, that cost me an additional $280 a year. So the umbrella policy would kick in after the $250,000 is exhausted in a car accident or if anybody gets injured on my property for whatever reason and is successful in the lawsuit. That way when that Jewish lawyer gets rear-ended by me and claims to have neck problems for the rest of their life because of it, I got about $1.2 million that they need to sue through before they can actually get to my assets

Again, before this I was perfectly fine with $250,000 until I saw what happened to our neighbors who thought they were perfectly fine too

[Bobbyvotes]

Your story is about one family out of how many who never have a serious accident? I have been driving cars since age 20. Now 65 years later not even a fender bender in my record. Because I do not drink and drive, and I keep safe distance from car ahead of me. I do not mind if cars cut in front of me, I am never late for anything. I can afford to spend $10,000/year on insurance, but it would be total waste of money. I love putting the insurance money in my bank account. If you feel better spending on insurance, go ahead and get the peace of mind you seek.

[suasponte137]

Your car insurance would be less than $1000 a year I would imagine for you. But you keep doing you man. It’s worked for 85 years, but I’m sure just about everybody who lost their house and everything they had from some supremely unfortunate and potentially ambiguous accident that they ultimately are found liable for in a court law, likely had the same train of thought you have.

Coincidentally, I’ve heard similar arguments made for people who choose to not have firearms in their house under the justification that they’ve never had a break in their entire life, it’s always someone else that this type of bad luck happens to

And you know what, they very well may never have that type of threat in their house and their decision will be justified, but boy, the cost of being wrong is pretty damn high

[Bobbyvotes]

Catastrophic house destruction by fire or hurricanes does happen. How many million houses are there and how many get destroyed? Compute the odds. Your chances of winning a lottery are about same as your house going up in flames.

[suasponte137]

I had grok, Elon musks ai compute the odds. If you want the whole answer I’ll give it to you. But the question I asked was

“ What are your chances of have your house destroyed in Florida from natural disaster or from misfortunes such as flooding or fire in Florida.”

It gave me a long robust answer but the summery was on average in 30 years you have a 25% chance of have your house completely destroyed for the reason I put in the question above or over an annual bases depends on your location in the state you have between a 1% to 3% chance of total destruction every year

[Bobbyvotes]

May be I live in a safe town of Saint Augustine, FL.
This is oldest town in USA established by a Spaniard named Ponce de Leon. There are buildings & homes still standing more than 250 years old.