Miami vs. Orlando: Very Different Migration Trends

Miami and Orlando are the top markets in the U.S. for attracting people moving from high-cost areas.

But the similarities end there.

According to recently released data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Miami and Orlando top the charts for net migration from high-cost U.S. markets (defined as the 12 metro areas with the highest average housing costs).  In the 12 months through the end of March 2023, Miami gained a net 31,000 residents from these high-cost markets, with Orlando just behind at 29,000 net new residents.  Other top markets included Dallas (27K), Phoenix (22K), and Las Vegas (22K).

But Miami actually lost more residents to lower-cost U.S. markets than it gained from the higher-cost markets, bringing its total domestic net migration for the year to a negative 6,000 people.  Orlando, on the other hand, gained people from all types of markets, increasing its total net migration to a positive 44,000 for the year.

Miami is the outlier, as all of the other top markets for attracting people from high-cost areas also had positive net migration totals.  Rapidly-increasing housing costs are certainly part of this dynamic in Miami, as it ranks as one of the most unaffordable housing markets for the median renter (i.e. with a median income) in the U.S.

However, this data only tracks domestic migration trends, leaving out a significant factor in the Miami market: the impact of migration of foreign-born residents.  Through mid-2022, the Miami metro had the second-highest number of new foreign-born residents (67,000), behind only New York, according to the latest Census release (Orlando ranked 12^th with 22,000 new foreign-born residents).