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Years after arriving in droves during the pandemic, young adults’ love for Miami may be souring. That’s what a new study suggests, finding more than half of young adults in Miami saying they’re likely to move away.
Global design firm Gensler looked at the top 27 metros in the U.S. and surveyed about 2,200 childless residents between the ages of 18 and 34 between July and November 2024. The survey is part of the company’s broader research on what makes cities magnetic, and it turns out high costs of living, proximity to climate perils, and traffic are apparently off-putting to young adults searching for a metro to settle; go figure.
The survey found Miami had the third-highest percentage (51.8 percent) of respondents who said they’re considering leaving South Florida; only Baltimore (61.6 percent) and Charlotte (58.3 percent) ranked higher. The same question was posed to three other categories of adults found that those 55 and older were the least likely to move out of the 305 (about 25 percent), those 35-54 with no children were the second least likely (about 38 percent), and about 47 percent of adults with children said they were likely to move.
Roughly 29 percent of Miami adults said they’re likely to leave the city over climate-change risks, a figure surpassed only by Houston (48 percent) and Tampa (31 percent).
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The broader study, which included 33,000 urbanites from 65 of the world’s largest metros across 30 countries, ranked Miami 55th in terms of how satisfied residents are living here, with 65 percent saying they are. Baltimore (64th), Philadelphia (61st), and Portland (60th) saved Miami from the U.S. losers’ podium by ranking below the 305.
The survey’s global respondents noted that the most significant factors when deciding to live in a city (listed here from most to least important) were cost of living, level of crime, high-quality healthcare, job opportunities, and tax rates. The study also found that smaller cities, which “offer a relatively lower cost of living and a higher perceived quality of life” are becoming increasingly popular.
Longevity plays a key part in what the report describes as “place attachment;” the longer residents stay in a city, the less likely they are to leave. Feeling a strong sense of belonging also motivates people to remain in their chosen locale.
The study included a handful of questions Miami residents answered about how the city is doing in key metrics. About 49 percent of Miamians think the city is economically strong, 54 percent say it’s peaceful and stable, 66 percent say the city is vibrant, 50 percent say it’s improving quality of life, 46 percent say it’s investing in neighborhoods, 32 percent say it’s addressing homelessness, and 41 percent say it’s reducing crime.
