In March, the census released new data on the growth of major metro areas in the US. The info about Miami-Dade County brought about some interesting trends.
About 67,000 people left Miami-Dade between 2023 and 2024, to go to live to other place in Florida or the United States.
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WATCH HEREThat's the case of 27 year old Ian Ondek, who moved to to South Florida as he enrolled in the University of Miami to study Architecture.
After seven years, he found out "It was great, (but) it was just so expensive."
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And eventually it became too much.
“Our lease came and when we went to renew it, it went from I think $2,000, and went up another $300, $400 for the next year. And I was like that’s a really big jump for what you are giving us," he said.
So, he and his wife, originally from Northeast Pennsylvania, started looking for a new place. And that’s when they settled on a home in Parrish, Florida which is just outside of Tampa.
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“And we found a house, a 2-bedroom 2-bath, full garage. It’s basically a full house rather than a 2-bedroom apartment,” Ondek said.
The amount of people that left Miami-Dade was unprecedented in the last 20 years, but the same was true for international migration.
“Migration is largely driving the transfer for the county, more specifically net international migration which is having a lot of influence on the growth in the county," said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau Population Estimates Division.
Between 2023 and 2024, the county had a net international migration of nearly 124,000 people. Without that influx, the county would have lost population as the number of births outpacing deaths was not enough to overcome the thousands who moved out.
Other figures from the census show that Miami-Dade is the 7th most populous county in the United States with over 2.8 million people, an increase of 64,000 people from 2023 to 2024.
As for those who left, their reasons varied from nonstop traffic to language barriers for some. But for Ian, he wanted space away from the city: peace and quiet, and a yard for the dogs, at a price he could afford.
