The Miami area’s population of millionaires surged by 94% from 2014 to 2024, reaching 38,800 people, as high earners from other parts of the U.S. flocked to South Florida.
Miami is also a hotspot centi-millionaires, boasting 180 residents with liquid investable wealth of US$100 million or more, as well as 17 billionaires, according to data from Henley & Partners and New World Wealth. (“Miami” is defined to include the City of Miami, Miami Beach and Coral Gables.)
“Cities that blend investment freedom with lifestyle dividends are winning the competition for mobile capital,” wealth consultant Henley & Partners noted in a statement. In the case of Miami, much of the growth in high-net-worth individuals over the past decade has been driven by the wave of migration to to Florida from other parts of the country during and just after the pandemic.
A report by New York’s Citizens Budget Commission showed that Florida was the top destination for people moving out of New York City between 2018 and 2022, according to the Miami Herald. Nearly 16,000 residents of NYC with combined incomes of $6.1 billion moved to Miami-Dade County, while another 25,000 earning nearly $4 billion hopped to Palm Beach and Broward countries.
Aside from warm weather, beautiful beaches, and an appealing lifestyle, a major draw of Miami (and Florida in general) is the lack of state income tax, estate tax, and capital gains tax – a crucial issue for wealthy individuals.
And although real estate was relatively cheap before the pandemic years, the influx of wealth has contributed to soaring housing prices. That in turn has prompted significant out-migration from Miami-Dade County, with more than 130,000 residents leaving between 2020 and 2023 – 35,000 of them in their 20s.
Another report, by wealth intelligence firm Altrata, found that some 13,200 ultra-high net worth individuals now keep a second home in the Miami area. The wealth boom has made Miami the top global city for second homes of ultra-wealthy people.
Nearly 17,500 super-rich people have houses in Miami, comprising the largest such population in the world after New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Secondary homes account for just over three-quarters of this residential footprint.
“The most prominent cohorts have been wealthy entrepreneurs from elsewhere in the US, and the expansion of an already sizable Latin American diaspora,” the report notes.
Ultra-wealthy real estate buyers tend to concentrate in Indian Creek, Star Island, Sunset Islands, Palm Island, La Gorce, and Coconut Grove, according to a press release by the company.