Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who fled the city for Miami and Palm Beach, Florida, over a five-year period took with them $13.8 billion in income, according to a new report.

Over the five years leading up to 2022, some 30,000 New Yorkers relocated to Florida’s Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties alone, taking with them $9.2 billion, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog.

Palm Beach County welcomed nearly 20,000 former New York City residents with a per capita income averaging $190,000. “This resulted in a reduction of $3.1B in New York City’s adjusted gross income,” the report says. Miami-Dade County saw an influx of more than 26,000 individuals earning approximately $266,000 per capita, which “resulted in a reduction of $6.1B in New York City’s adjusted gross income.”

The city’s adjusted gross income was reduced by another $4.6 billion as thousands more left the city and moved to other places in Florida, the report found. It wasn’t just whites who fled; tens of thousands of Blacks, Hispanics and Asians also bailed. The largest age demographics of those leaving were Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980. 

“From this movement of income, we know that New York would have received more tax revenue had they stayed, but not how much tax revenue New York City lost,” the president of the CBC, Andrew Rein, told The New York Sun. “But it is not just the tax revenue loss that should be considered. When people move out of New York City, they no longer support the local economy.”

The report attributed the migration to several factors, including the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Rein said other factors played a role, including “affordability and quality of life concerns, as well as work opportunities, among others. Simply put, though, some people found the value proposition of other places to be higher than New York City.”

Other states, including New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania, also saw population gains from New York City residents during the period.

Not all former New York City residents moved out of state. Some moved closer to the city’s borders, with Long Island gaining a net 138,000 residents during the same timeframe. This outflow reduced New York City’s adjusted gross income by $11.1 billion. Meanwhile, Westchester County, situated just north of the city, gained nearly 60,000 net new residents, further cutting the city’s gross income by $5 billion.

Despite the losses, the city saw an overall population increase in 2023 and 2024 after six years of decline, thanks to a surge in international migration. 

Interestingly, while the total number of millionaires in New York nearly doubled — to almost 70,000 in 2022 from about 36,000 in 2010 — the state’s share of U.S. millionaires dwindled. New York accounted for 12.7 percent of the nation’s millionaires in 2010, but that number fell to 8.7 percent by 2022. Meanwhile, other states like California, Texas, and Florida experienced an increase in their share of the country’s wealthiest individuals.

The departure of millionaires from New York City has emerged as a politically sensitive issue, given the significant impact the city’s wealthiest have on its tax revenue. According to the CBC, the top 1 percent of the city’s tax filers contribute 40 percent of New York’s income taxes.

“While New York has more millionaires over time, the growth is much higher elsewhere,” Mr. Rein told the Sun. “If New York’s share of the nation’s millionaires had stayed where it was in 2010, New York City would likely receive $2 billion more in tax revenue now.”