A new study found that people living or wanting to move to one of the Sunshine’s state fastest growing cities need to make at least $85,000 annually to afford the skyrocketing housing costs in Florida. Throughout the pandemic, Americans flocked to Florida causing rent to soar.
An April study conducted by Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and the University of Alabama found that rent in Tampa, Florida is 5.04% higher than last year. According to FAU and FGCU’s report, the average rent in Tampa is $2,118.75, which ranks 18th highest among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), residents are considered “rent burdened” if they spend more than 30% of their annual income toward rent and “severely rent burdened” if they spend more than 50%.
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With the average rent and the HUD’s definition of “rent burdened,” individuals would need to make $84,750.12 to avoid being “rent burdened.”
In 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida saw about 319,000 Americans relocating as people sought more relaxed coronavirus rules, sunnier weather and no state income tax.
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Florida saw a populating increase of nearly 2% – well above the 0.4% national growth rate recorded in the U.S. between July 2021 and July 2022.
From 2020 to 2023, Tampa saw its population grow by a little less than 1% in 2023, compared with a more than 2% increase the previous two years. Orlando, Florida, matched Tampa with similar growth rates.
The Exodus to Florida was marked by Americans migrating away from blue states with steep taxes like California and New York to red states with lower taxes like Florida and Texas, according to a Bank of America analyst note that is based on aggregated and anonymous internal customer data.
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Other red states saw substantial population growth include Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona and Idaho.