Florida Continues to Grow With Residents and Jobs

Last month the Wall Street Journal released an article that showed a decline in the population in Florida. The article highlights vivid personal stories of depreciating homes, brutal hurricane seasons, and the sizzling summer heat that are a few factors for Florida losing as many residents as it is gaining. What the article didn’t tell you was the moving company that released this information only sampled a small portion of the Florida market which did not depict the true data of Florida migration trends.

What we are actually seeing is an influx of interest from businesses looking for a new location. The pandemic and other crises that came to light in 2020 have seemed to help persuade anyone that might have been thinking about a possible move to Florida, into following through with it. The tax advantages, quality of life, lower costs of living, an expanding workforce and the advantage of a living in a state that opened earlier than many others provoked people and companies to make a move to the Sunshine State. Many are choosing St. Pete specifically for the innovation that is happening city wide in many industries, and for the inclusive and diverse culture that the city is built around.

As an organization in St. Pete, FL, we have seen a spike of interest this year in people and companies not only from places like California and New York where it is more expensive but from around the U.S. and world looking to relocate to Florida. With a total population of 22,297,995 and Florida growing by 800 to 900 people per day the state has been creating more than 1 in 11 new jobs in the U.S. to keep up with the increase of residents.

In response to the misinformation in the WSJ article, the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Chief Economist Dr. Jerry Parrish wrote an article (http://www.flchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03232021-WSJ-Response-Florida-Chamber-Foundation.pdf ) to refute their data with a more accurate depiction of what is going on in Florida today. Parrish notes that Florida gaining a lot of residents from both interstate and international moves every year. He reports that by 2030 Florida’s population will grow by almost 4 million people and we will need to add 2 million jobs in Florida. To learn more about the Florida Economic Outlook follow this link to the Florida Chamber of Commerce website: https://www.flchamber.com/2020-florida-economic-outlook/