Ex-New Yorkers dish on why they moved to Florida for good: People thought we were crazy
Ex-New Yorkers who have fled to Florida say they have no regrets after ditching high taxes and crime for a sunnier, cheaper and safer lifestyle.A relentless “escape from New York” has hammered the city as more than 125,000 residents left for Florida between 2018 and 2022 and took nearly $14 billion in income with them, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission.Alex Taub, cofounder of entertainment tech startup Goblintown, relocated to Miami with his wife and two young children from the Upper West Side of Manhattan in July 2020 during the lockdowns – and said rent also was a major factor.“People thought we were crazy when we were telling them this but it just started getting more and more bleak in New York,” Taub told The Post.“For the same price that we were paying [for a two-bedroom apartment] in New York, we were getting a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house with a pool and a backyard.”The CBC’s report noted that wealthy New Yorkers have left in droves, with the approximately 26,000 people who moved from New York to Miami-Dade County holding a per-capita income of over $266,000.Taub, a lifelong New Yorker who was active in the city’s tech scene, said he previously would have considered it “blasphemous” to leave, but has been won over by the work-life balance and lower taxes.“A lot of friends have moved down here, a lot people in tech, a lot of people in business.
The people who stayed are the people with kids,” Taub said.“I’ve never worked harder in my life but I know that at 5 o’clock today I can jump in the pool with my kids and have fun,” he added.Bryan Goldberg, CEO of Bustle Media, said South Florida “is composed of dozens of small towns with accessible, sane leaders who work hard to improve our lives.”“I can get on the phone with the Miami Beach mayor at any time, and so can any of my neighbors,” he added.
“Once one experiences this sort of relationship with their government, it is im...