Report: Miami-Dade losing more residents than gaining

MIAMI – We have all heard over the course of the last few years about the flood of people moving to South Florida, but it turns out Miami-Dade is losing more residents than it’s gaining.

A new report shows this is the county’s first population loss since 1970.

“All this discussion about new Yorkers, or Californians moving to Miami-Dade County although correct does not offset the number of people moving out of our area,”  said Maria Ilcheva, a research professor for the census information center at F.I.U.  She said starting from the pandemic year the exodus started.   

Figures from the U.S. Census reveal that 79,535 residents moved out of Miami-Dade County to other cities of Florida or other states from 2020 to 2022.

“The people who are moving out whether individuals or families are more in the middle-class spectrum,” said Ilcheva, who said their conclusion was reached after carefully analyzing people tax declaration forms.  

High rent and overpriced houses, along with other factors are pushing some to seek alternatives in Florida or elsewhere.

The population loss in Florida’s largest county stands in contrast to the rest of the state, which added more people between 2021 and 2022 than any other state in the nation. 

Home prices are the number one reason for the exodus. 

CBS News Miami interviewed a woman who moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida, during that period of time.

“One of the reasons why… was housing prices. They were through the roof. I was shocked to see we wanted to upgrade and live in a larger house to have family over, I have children in multiple states and it was impossible to buy,” said Carolina Jarquin.   

The study reveals that home prices in Miami-Dade soared to 53% as of June 2020, that was the first-year people started leaving. 

In 2019, median rent prices had already increased 27%, and 61% of the rental population was spending 30% or more of their income on housing.

Traffic is another of the reason cited by the study as a possible reason for the exodus. 

 “I really felt that the stress level I felt every morning and afternoon was going to affect my health, add to that the road rage because you can never find a courteous driver,” said Jarquin agreeing with the study. 

Professor Ilcheva says we must be worried about who are the ones leaving, “these are our educative people our talent individuals who are contributing to our local economy.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that this made evident that many people with money moved to South Florida, “we have to state focused on the people who are here, our families our workers our retirees we want to afford to live here too.”