Is Everyone Moving to Miami?

Not me. I'd rent there for a short-term, but not live there. Its time is numbered, climate change will make it borderline unlivable (if nothing else, because it'll most likely be underwater by 2050, but also hurricanes and the heat will just get worse).

If you didn't know, the stone around Miami is extremely porous limestone from compressed coral reefs and water from the ocean creeps in, including into their drinking water reservoirs[1], and the city already spends hundreds of millions of dollars[2] on various projects to try to fight against the inevitable.

EDIT: Since I wrote this, by chance I encountered news that an apartment building partially collapsed in Miami-Dade county this morning[3]. At least one death and still 51 people unaccounted for, unfortunately. There's probably going to be more of this over the coming years.

[1]https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-...

[2]https://time.com/4932565/hurricane-irma-miami-beach/

[3]https://www.dw.com/en/florida-apartment-building-in-miami-ar...

I moved to Miami from San Francisco in February. The reason wasn’t because of tech. I couldn’t deal with rising crime and how closed the city was. It was April when a ton more people started flocking to Miami for conferences and events.

A lot of people are here short term. Yes some bought property but it’s certainly not everyone.

Miami feels really well run in comparison to San Francisco. Walking around, I see human feces, needles, dead bodies through overdose. It’s a very clean city, lots of places to buy or rent, very health conscious and there’s a lot of sun!

My major gripe is that it’s kind of hard to walk and find food at the scale of inner Richmond or in Brooklyn. I actually have yet to meet any software engineers like me in the city which kind of sucks. I don’t have anything in common with the e-commerce and crypto people in the city.

I’m not in love with it. But it does the job for me right now given that the city does feel like the better place to be given COVID restrictions. Ultimately I’d love to be in the west coast again due to how much I went backpacking.

> Recently my whole twitter feed is filled with ppl announcing moving to Miami from SF.

Ask yourself: Are they going there for work or early retirement?

> What's going on? Is this a "mass migration"? Something ideological? A movement?

None of the above. Miami is not, and will never be, the new technological haven many people preach it to be.

I'm not on the inside but thought I'd share my take.

I think the overall sentiment is that some people are realizing there are alternatives that .eet their criteria. One of the major criteria is probably around getting a job with a top tier tech company and being in an environment/area that promotes the cross pollination of ideas and skills. It might be that the forced remote work has made some people realize they can do that this sort of stuff online, at least to the degree that they find it acceptable. I would also say that the tech culture has expanded to other cities (or at least it exists to some degree) where there wasn't any in the past.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some ideological or lifestyle differences driving people to other states. Probably some of the same stuff that has prompted some companies to move. Stuff like lower taxes, less regulation (more freedom), lower cost of living (more land or things to buy), less drought to deal with (depends on state), etc. I know I don't have any interest in living in California. I think a lot of that has to do with me liking a more rural life. Yes, I know California has some nice rural areas. California's policies and legislation is basically dominated by the big cities though (not a bad thing, but not my cup of tea).

As a NYer, I never understood why so many people from here retire to Florida. Yes the beaches are beautiful, but the weather is also scorching - and humid. And hurricanes. Maybe it's the cost?

If I had to pick a warm weather retirement destination, Hawaii would be #1 on my list. Second would probably be SoCal somewhere. I guess both are more expensive than Florida.

No. It’s a marketing campaign from those who want to start a trend. People want to advertise themselves as trendsetters and get in on the ground floor if Miami takes off.

It’s possible that Miami might have a growing tech scene, but the idea that everyone is picking up and moving to one specific city just isn’t true.

When I'm on Twitter it sounds like that, but when I hang out with people in real life, no one ever mentions Miami at all. I do however know a lot of people personally who moved to Austin.

Nah, I’m currently in Florida (albeit a different part) and I’ll probably be leaving in a few years.

The job market feels extremely disappointing for the size of the state, economically and population wise.

Miami in general feels like a city way past it’s cultural prime. Sure one or two companies may be talking about going out there, but every time I try to do some searching, I’d be better off going to some other state. Within the south, Raleigh is probably a much better options and I’d even go back to Atlanta before Miami.

Anecdotally, everyone I know is moving to the PNW from California. Never met a single person moving to Miami.

I don't know a single person who moved to Miami this last year, or ever actually. I have known some people who moved away from there. I don't think anything is going on, there is no "mass migration". I don't see this effecting tech or innovation anywhere.

One of my wife's colleagues spent the winter there and was thinking about moving permanently, but after a few moths they came back. It is, apparently, a silly place. Also, soon it will be under the ocean.

I’m moving to Boca Raton from Santa Barbara in a few weeks. Main reasons: weather is nice most of the year, no state tax, and I can actually afford to buy a nice house in a decent neighborhood.

Nah.

I moved from Miami from NYC a few months back. I did not move for tech, was pretty disappointed with the way NYC is begin run and how they handled COVID.

I love it here, as someone who has not spent a lot of time in Florida before, weather is great (a bit hot now), great food (lots of great NYC restaurants have second locations here), lots of things to do, you can speak Spanish all day.

Best of all, not everyone thinks the same. People have better things to do then argue about politics all day here. I have not seen a Biden or Trump flag and I have been here 4 months.