What housing crunch? Miami is named among best Florida cities to live

Despite the high cost of housing, Miami ranked among the best cities to live in Florida, a recognition that some think will draw more residents to the Magic City.

Business magazine Forbes ranked Miami as the sixth-best place to live in Florida in 2023. Forbes recognized Miami for its Caribbean and Latin American influences, colorful architecture, diverse job opportunities and population size.

Forbes compiled a list of the top 10 cities to live in Florida — the state has approximately 400 cities — based on a variety of factors, including home affordability, employment, population growth, crime and diversity.

Florida’s population has grown during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with wealthy transplants from across the country — mostly people from the Northeast — searching for lower taxes, a warmer climate and relaxed COVID-19 restrictions. Jason Damm, an assistant professor of professional practice in finance at the University of Miami, said the migration continues.

“It is one of the fastestgrowing states in the country,” Damm said. “These rankings, I assume, would have some influence over the people wanting to live here.”

Tampa ranked as the best city to live in the state while Pensacola bottomed out the list. Here’s the rest of the top 10 from Nos. 2 through 9: Jacksonville; Gainesville; Cape Coral; Orlando; Miami; Melbourne; Sarasota; and Tallahassee.

A New York transplant from 2013, Damm said Miami’s “strong connection to Latin America” helped it establish a “strong business center.” Whereas some Florida cities are considered sleepy retirement or beach towns, Miami’s economy has strengthened during the pandemic. Chief executives have noticed and have been relocating their headquarters or opening satellite offices here.

Demand for Miami living exacerbated the housing crunch, which makes it a struggle — especially for longtime residents — to afford the high rents and sales prices.

“Real estate became very expensive here. You had too much demand for not enough supply,” Damm said. “If you look at the growth in the rents in the apartment sector, Miami had one of the highest increases in rents in the whole U.S. over the last two years or so. That kind of growth either has to level off or it becomes very unaffordable to live in certain areas like Miami Beach, Edgewater and Brickell.”