Population Drops in Miami-Dade During Pandemic Boom

The “great migration” to Florida isn’t hitting Miami quite the same.

Miami-Dade County’s population declined between 2020 and 2022, with nearly 80,000 people moving to other parts of Florida or leaving the state, according to U.S. Census data cited by the Wall Street Journal. That contradicts what many brokers, developers and politicians like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez preach about growth in the Magic City.

The 1 percent drop in population marks the first time the county has experienced a multiyear net loss in residents since at least 1970. Still, the county’s population grew slightly last year, when looking at the year alone, thanks in part to the return of foreign immigration.

Florida, meanwhile, saw its population rise 3 percent to 22.2 million people, the Miami Herald reported. Nearly 707,000 people migrated to the state between 2020 and 2022.

Broward County’s population grew just 0.1 percent, and Palm Beach County’s population rose nearly 1.8 percent between 2020 and 2022.

Many have been fleeing Miami-Dade for cities with less expensive housing, less extreme inflation and better job opportunities.

“The people who built this city cannot afford to live in their own homes that they spent their entire lives in,” documentary filmmaker Billy Corben told the Journal.

Last year, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge called Miami “the epicenter of the housing crisis in this country.”

The median price of single-family homes has been rising every month for nearly 12 years. In June, it reached $622,500, up 8 percent annually, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. The median price for condos reached $418,000, a 2 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Apartment rents have also surged, though rent growth is slowing from its high during the pandemic. Rent hikes in Miami led the nation, skyrocketing 58 percent from March 2020 to April 2022, according to Realtor.com. More than 60 percent of the rental population is spending more than 30 percent of household income on housing, which gives it the highest share of “cost-burdened” renters, according to a Harvard University study.

— Katherine Kallergis