Employees at big tech corporations could also be trading of their beloved Patagonia vests for sunglasses and shorts because the industry continues to migrate to warmer climes.
Traditionally, America’s corporate centers are concentrated in New York and Silicon Valley.
But during the last decade, and particularly for the reason that pandemic, Miami has catapulted up the rankings and grow to be a powerhouse in its own right.
The Sunshine State is now home to among the country’s most well-known brands across various industries.
In finance, Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities have made Miami their everlasting headquarters, while JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon touted the renovation of the corporate’s Tampa offices and the $210 million it might bring to the local economy in his annual letter to shareholders highlighted.
Companies like Microsoft, Amazon and now Apple are also reportedly increasing their presence within the region.
The post-pandemic relocation of huge tech corporations to South Florida began with Microsoft announced in 2021 It moved its Latin America regional team to the coastal district of Brickell in Miami.
Just a few years later, Amazon announced its search for one more 50,000 square feet in the realm, following its Seattle founder Jeff Bezos.
Bezos announced in November 2023 that he could be leaving his longtime hometown of Seattle for the “billionaire bunker” on Indian Creek Island in south Florida, where he now owns three villas.
It was recently reported that Apple is joining the tech exodus to Florida, taking over 45,000 square feet (4,181 square meters) in a brand new constructing in Coral Gables, an affluent suburb south of Miami.
Apple didn’t respond Fortune’s Please comment.
VC money
New York and San Francisco have long been considered leaders in funding corporations, and VC data backs it up.
Between 2019 and 2021, 27.8% of enterprise capital investments went to the San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont metropolitan areas (one among the cities in Silicon Valley).
Per Data from PitchBookAnother 8.1% of the VC spending pot went to other parts of Silicon Valley, like Santa Clara and San Jose.
Coming in behind San Francisco, perhaps unsurprisingly, was New York, which grabbed 14.4% of VC funding in those three years.
This dynamic correlates with the talent base of each metropolises, which have a handful of America’s best universities on their doorstep.
This human capital, combined with billions of dollars in investment, has allowed each territories to develop seemingly unshakable reputations as power centers for 2 of the nation’s largest industries
It could appear unattainable that Miami can ever truly compete with its balmy weather and beach life.
However, based on experts Assets Speaking to us, the South Florida region also has the ingredients to shake up the present landscape.
Why is Florida becoming so popular?
While 250 days of warm weather could also be a perk of living within the Southeast, it’s definitely not enough to draw the eye of entrepreneurial titans.
First and maybe most blatant: Florida has no income taxwhich will be particularly attractive for top earners.
But Kenan Fikri, research director on the nonpartisan organization Economic Innovation Group (EIG), believes it could go even deeper.
He explained: “The pandemic has really seen a huge shift in intensity, particularly in net losses from New York to South Florida.”
Additionally, people moving south were traditionally closer to retirement age, however the pandemic caused younger people to rethink their lifestyles and leave the Big Apple looking for larger homes with more amenities.
Because these individuals were still within the prime of their careers, skills and buying power were added, accelerating a trend that Fikri believes would have occurred over time.
The EIG routes “State economic dynamics,” i.e., business growth rates, startup rates, variety of entrepreneurs per capita, labor migration, and labor force participation rates.
By that measure, New York has declined — from a rating of 35.9 in 2000 to 23.4 in 2024 — while Florida’s statewide rating has conversely jumped from seventh to fifth.
“Population growth and economic growth are interrelated, so New York’s relative attractiveness has declined as it has declined. Florida has continued to grow, bringing in more workers and capital investment,” Fikri added.
Investing in local education
One of the various individuals who recently moved to Florida is Professor David Andolfatto, chairman of the Miami Herbert Business School on the University of Miami.
Andolfatto moved to Florida in 2022 after serving as senior vp of research on the St. Louis Fed and said skills and talent were available because of the “high-caliber” student body at UMiami.
“I do not think the Southeast has the identical academic tradition because the Northeast and California, but I see tremendous potential in developing the partnership between the company sector and academia [of Miami],” he said.
“I am very excited about the prospect of our students meeting the needs of incoming companies. It is a big draw for talent, but a lot of that talent is bred locally,” Professor Andolfatto added.
And while business schools aren’t as common in Florida as they’re further up the East Coast, that might be changing.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, for instance, has already invested in an economics department on the University of Chicago and donated $9 million in April to supply a school-sponsored math program to Miami public school students.
“It would be a good signal if you see that people are investing not only in the companies but also in the institutions,” said Fikri.
“It’s a good signal that people are attracted to places not just because of a lower cost of living, but that they are committed to investing in a place and its future.”
Avoiding San Francisco’s “doomsday spiral.”
South Florida should want to ensure its solar appearance doesn’t repeat the issues that beset rival areas.
San Francisco, for instance, has been repeatedly criticized by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said the realm was in a “spiral of doom,” called it a “disaster” and compared it to “a decaying zombie apocalypse.”
Musk criticizes town’s high crime rate, in addition to drug abuse and the homelessness crisis.
Fortune spoke to experts who believed the influx of investment needed to be spread across the complete infrastructure – or, as Professor Andolfatto calls it, “the fundamentals.”
“What do people want?” he said. They desire a protected environment by which to lift their families and wish peace of mind through access to adequate healthcare, basic education and reasonably priced housing. These are ongoing issues. And then just let people run with the opportunities which can be presented to them and the liberty to decide on what they wish to do.”
If Florida can increase investment without increasing inequality, there’s also a probability of retaining employees for the remaining of their working lives.
Fikri explained: “The idea of being a place where you don’t just go through your first formative years in the job market and then leave it, but a place where you can build a whole career and afford to stay that long Staying as you want would be very attractive.” .
“Many people who have left expensive city centers in recent years would have preferred to be able to stay, but felt this was not possible and felt they had to move.”
Lifestyle, talent and investments attract financial corporations and Big Tech
While a profession goal prompted a move to Miami for Andolfatto, the approach to life didn’t hurt either.
“I haven’t worn a jacket since I moved here,” he says Assets. “The weather is lovely, the mango trees are outside, the restaurants are exceptional, you have the beach or maybe a pool on your property.”
The combination of lifestyle, talent and investment could allow Miami — and South Florida more broadly — to cherry-pick the industries it desires to be known for.
“Overall, I expect the community to grow in both finance and technology. “I don’t know if the resources are available here right now, but I’m sure Miami will have no problem finding the talent they need for both sectors,” Andolfatto added.
These aspects are why cities like New York cannot afford to rest on their laurels – like Jamie Dimon recently put itWhile New York remains to be “obviously” the financial center of the world, “in my opinion no one has the right to believe they have a divine right to succeed.”
Speaking this week on the Economic Club of New York, Dimon added: “You’ve seen it with cities, you’ve seen it with governments, you’ve seen it with countries – people are going down the wrong path.”
The data suggests that New York is already feeling the pinch.
EIG research found that $16.5 billion in taxable income flowed out of Manhattan in the course of the pandemic and $4.6 billion of that went to Florida.
Florida was the most important beneficiary of inflows between 2020 and 2021, collecting one other $39 billion from inflows from other states.
Fikri concluded: “New York has so many assets that are irretrievable to any other place – it can afford to lose some citadels, but it cannot afford not to take into account the lessons of these cases .”
