Nearly one-third of New Yorkers want to leave their state; over 10,000 have already sought refuge in Florida this year

More than one in four want out

A Siena College Poll conducted March 6-9 has provided some damning insights into how New Yorkers view their state.

When asked whether they felt that New York was a place they felt safe from crime, 49% of the 795 respondents answered in the negative. Women appeared especially concerned about their safety, with 57% providing a negative response.

Nearly 40% of respondents suggested New York is not a good place to raise children; 60% of respondents cast doubt on whether New York is a suitable place to retire; 31% said they would retire someplace else.

When asked whether they plan to continue to live in New York or intend to leave within the next five years, 27% of respondents said they were planning on leaving.

Don Levy, polling director at the Siena College Research Institute, told the New York Post, "These are high numbers. These are take your breath away numbers."

Angela Gutierrez, 38, told the Post that she had moved to East Harlem from the Bronx, partly to get away from "all the crazy people," but stressed that it was "still not safe."

"And everything is expensive! They’re raising the rent again and we can’t. It’s going up almost $800 a month," added Gutierrez, noting that she was "going to Pennsylvania at the end of the month."

Unlike Gutierrez, tens of thousands of Americans are going a great deal farther than Pennsylvania to escape New York.

The grass is greener

New York City Mayor Eric Adams bet on LGBT activism to stop the exodus of New Yorkers to Florida and potentially even reverse the trend.

Adams denounced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last April over his ratification of the "Parental Rights in Education" bill and called on Floridians to head north to "celebrate the diversity and acceptance of New York City," reported CNN.

The Democratic mayor's efforts — repeated in spirit by the LGBT lobby groups who issued a Florida travel warning this week — were evidently in vain.

Despite the rainbow posters and celebrations of diversity, the exodus of New Yorkers from Adams' city and elsewhere in the state has not let up, with many continuing to flock en masse to the Sunshine State.

10,824 New Yorkers swapped out their state driver's licenses for Florida licenses in the first three months of 2023, reported the Post, citing new figures from the Florida Department of Highway Safety. This is reportedly a slight slowdown over the same stretch last year, which saw 14,834 move their licenses to Florida.

USA Today reported that over 65,000 New Yorkers ultimately made the switch in 2022 and another 62,000 the year before.

U.S. Census Bureau data released this week indicated that Kings, Queens, and Bronx Counties in New York were among the five hemorrhaging the most residents between July 2021 and 2022, with a total of 213,000.

Conversely, Polk, Lee, and Pasco Counties in Florida saw some of the greatest gains, picking up nearly 85,000 people combined.

Drawn in or chased out?

While New York's authoritarian COVID policies and Florida's earlier reopening reportedly played a significant part in driving the exodus during the pandemic, some Americans are following businesses that migrated down to save on taxes.

Jackie Bild, a real estate agent at Douglas Elliman based in Miami, told USA Today, "You have successful people with big businesses who want to create their residency in Florida to save on taxes. ... Many jobs have become more flexible, and you no longer need to go into the office and be in the cold. And it’s more affordable than New York. Like, why not live in Florida?"

There is zero income tax in Florida, whereas New York's top rate is 10.9%.

DeSantis suggested to Fox Radio host Guy Benson in 2022, "They tax and regulate so they repel people to leave their state," referencing New York's loss of 400,000 residents in 2021 alone.

In addition to greater freedom and less tax, the median sale price of a home was significantly less in Florida than in New York, at least as of January.

The real estate site Redfin indicated in a March report that Miami and Tampa are among the most popular destinations for house hunters looking to move to a different city. New York was the top out-of-state origin for buyers in these cities, as well as in Orlando, which ranked sixth on the list of "Top 10 Metros Homebuyers Are Moving Into, by Net Inflow."

As suggested by the Siena poll, crime may have chased out a great many people. After all, major crimes rose 22% last year in New York City, reported the New York Times.

Neighborhood Scout indicated that the odds of becoming a victim of a violent crime and a property crime in the state are 1 in 319 and 1 in 74, respectively.

While crime, affordability, and taxes are factors, some in the diaspora may simply be Republicans who heeded Gov. Kathy Hochul's order to leave.

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