Southwest Florida Leads State With Most Incoming Residents During Pandemic

You have heard it for a couple months now and it still rings true; Florida is hot. But now, we officially have some statistics to prove just how hot Florida is, specifically Southwest Florida. Bloomberg CityLab utilized the new U.S. Census data and Post Office data to analyze residents moving out vs. moving in of areas from March 2020 to February 2021.

Collier County ranked third in SWFL with a 9.7% rise in inflow/outflow. In first and second were Hendry County (10.8%) and Highlands County (10.7%). Lee county came in at 10^th with 6%.

There also was data to point to in support of the idea that many people from New York were moving to Florida. Over 19,000 Residents from Manhattan moved to Florida. But, of those 19,000, 47% did say the move was temporary. It is important to note that a large portion of those that have moved from major metropolitan areas have moved very close to their previous location, for instance many Manhattan residents moved close to Brooklyn. This has also been reflected in Florida, with many residents from Lee County moving to Collier County.