Is Florida Just for Rich People Now?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Journal.

Episode: Is Florida Just for Rich People Now?
Date: May 27, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Knudsen & Jessica Mendoza
Main Guests: Arian Campo Flores (WSJ, Miami), Senator Rick Scott (Florida)

---

Overview

This episode examines whether Florida, historically an affordable and appealing destination for retirees and working-class families, has become increasingly out of reach for all but the wealthy. Hosts Ryan Knudsen and Jessica Mendoza explore the state’s shifting demographic and economic landscape, focusing on how an influx of affluent residents and surging insurance costs are pushing out lower- and middle-income Floridians. The episode features reporting from Miami-based WSJ journalist Arian Campo Flores and an extended interview with Senator Rick Scott.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Florida’s Traditional Appeal and Recent Changes

• Historic magnetism: For generations, Florida attracted retirees and working-class families seeking a fresh start, drawn by its affordability and weather.
  • “It has drawn people of all age groups... nurses, teachers, cops and firefighters…they could find a place to maybe start a new chapter in their lives and live in a new development.” — Arian Campo Flores (00:42)
• Shift in demographics: Recent years have seen a dramatic slowdown in population growth, with only the wealthy continuing to move in.
  • “The only people who seem to be moving to Florida these days are rich.” — Ryan Knudsen (01:00)
• Accessibility is fading: The “Florida dream” increasingly requires substantial wealth.
  • “Florida really illustrates national trends. You see it in an extreme version here.” — Arian Campo Flores (01:38)

---

2. Pandemic Influx and Billionaire Boom

• COVID-19 supercharged migration of affluent Americans: Many came for relaxed restrictions, remote work, and tax advantages (no state income tax).
  • “The state was a big draw for people...many of whom were increasingly higher income.” — Arian Campo Flores (03:16)
• Notable newcomers: Billionaires such as Ken Griffin and Mark Zuckerberg have bought property, escalating the luxury market.
  • “Ken Griffin’s big announcement today: he’s moving his hedge fund Citadel to South Florida.” — Ryan Knudsen (04:06)
  • “The property is part of a gated community on a small island in Miami that's commonly referred to as billionaire bunker.” — Ryan Knudsen (04:12)
• Positive effects: High-end construction, job generation in service sectors, and increased property tax revenues.
  • “It’s generating demand for high-end construction...it’s also boosted the tax coffers.” — Arian Campo Flores (04:27)

---

3. Affordability Crisis and the Squeeze on Working-Class Floridians

• Rising costs: Affluent newcomers drive up home prices, triggering gentrification and pricing out lower-income residents.
  • “The homes get pricier, neighborhoods get gentrified, and so it squeezes people who are on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.” — Arian Campo Flores (05:09)
• Job market mismatches: Florida does not generate enough high-paying jobs to match the soaring cost of living.
• Direct link: Inflows of wealthy buyers escalate home prices.
  • “In my neighborhood, the prices went up 50%, 60%, because there was just so much demand.” — Arian Campo Flores (05:54)

---

4. Economy Tailored Toward the Wealthy

• Emergence of ultra-luxury services and venues: Luxury storage units ($3–5 million), private clubs, and elite amenities proliferate.
  • “There are these really large spaces...designed for very wealthy people to display their prized possessions...like a 7,000 square foot storage unit that has all the bells and whistles.” — Arian Campo Flores (06:42)
• Job creation debate: While some jobs are created, most ultra-wealthy transplants bring their companies’ headquarters and high-paying jobs from elsewhere.
  • “Their main operations...remain in other states...it doesn’t involve a wholesale relocation of a company with hundreds, even thousands of jobs that pay six figures. That is rare.” — Arian Campo Flores (07:59)

---

5. Insurance Cost Crisis

• Exploding home and flood insurance rates: Driven by hurricanes and natural disasters.
  • “For some people, we’re talking double, triple over a course of a number of years....getting priced out of Florida solely on the insurance piece.” — Arian Campo Flores (08:50)

---

6. State’s Growth Model Under Threat

• Dependency on growth: Florida’s whole economic model is built on continual population and real estate expansion.
  • “If fewer people are coming and more people are leaving, that becomes a problem because there are so many sectors that really depend on that.” — Arian Campo Flores (09:22)

---

7. Community Reactions

• Public concern: Arian’s WSJ article drew over a thousand reader comments, echoing themes of being priced out and the state losing its accessibility.
• Political attention: Senator Rick Scott publicly acknowledged these trends as “bad for business and bad for Floridians.”
  • “He tweeted the story and said that this raised concerns for him about the direction Florida was heading in…” — Arian Campo Flores (10:28)

---

8. Interview with Senator Rick Scott (12:01–16:42)

• Recognition of the issue:
  • “If you look at Naples, if you look at Palm Beach, even some of the areas in Miami, the higher end is doing fine. Rich people are doing fine. And the poor and middle class are having a hard time. So this can’t go on. Right?” — Senator Rick Scott (12:41)
• Proposed solutions:
  • Job creation: “We should be the driver of jobs for the country...you’ve got to recruit companies, you’ve got to make the best place to do business, you got to have the best education system, you got to have the best, most secure neighborhoods...” (13:42)
  • Grow sectors like aerospace/space industry, attract employers with good jobs.
  • Acknowledge federal limits and the need for state/local action on affordable housing.
• Legislative debate:
  • Federal housing bill (21st Century Road to Housing Act): Bipartisan effort to make homes affordable, limit institutional investors in the market.
  • Scott voted against the bill, calling it a “haphazard attempt…” (16:08)
  • Scott’s alternative: Help first-time buyers save for a down payment (bill not advanced).
• Calling attention ahead of elections:
  • “I hope that everybody that’s running will really focus, focus, because this is what’s really important to people...how do you drive down the cost of living? Because that’s what people care about.” — Senator Rick Scott (16:42)

---

9. Florida as a Microcosm of National Trends

• The “K-shaped” economy: Split between those thriving (the affluent) and those struggling (working and middle class).
  • “It illustrates trends that we’re seeing nationally...a real illustration of this K-shaped economy...” — Arian Campo Flores (17:27)
• Changing identity: Florida increasingly caters to and draws the wealthy, fundamentally altering its character and accessibility for its traditional populations.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The Florida dream is still alive, but only if you have enough money.” — Ryan Knudsen (01:32)
• “Florida is not a place that is known for generating an abundance of really high paying jobs.” — Arian Campo Flores (05:09)
• “This can’t go on. Right?” — Senator Rick Scott (12:41)
• “It’s sort of hard to get your head around. But over time you come to realize that the state is increasingly a place that caters to and draws more of a wealthy population.” — Arian Campo Flores (17:27)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:05–02:04 – Florida’s historic appeal and changing demographic
• 03:05–04:27 – The pandemic, tax policy, and billionaire influx
• 05:09–06:35 – Housing market escalation and middle-class squeeze
• 06:35–07:52 – Services tailored to the ultra-rich and local impacts
• 08:39–09:22 – The insurance crisis and fallout
• 09:58–10:28 – Public and political reaction to soaring costs
• 11:45–16:42 – Interview with Senator Rick Scott: causes, consequences, solutions
• 17:10–18:57 – Florida as a symbol of America’s growing economic divide

---

Final Thoughts

This episode paints a vivid picture of Florida as a bellwether of economic polarization in the U.S.—a state built on affordability and opportunity, now transformed into a playground for the wealthy while working-class roots are squeezed out. Policymakers and citizens alike confront tough questions: Can Florida remain accessible for all? Or is the “Florida dream” becoming solely the domain of millionaires and billionaires?

Transcript

[Ryan Knudsen]

For generations, people have been moving to Florida, the Sunshine State.

[Colleague/Co-host]

It's been a magnet for people for decades.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's our colleague Arian Campo Flores, who lives in Miami.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Obviously a lot of retirees have, you know, dreamed of having a little, you know, bungalow on the beach and sports, spending their golden years, you know, fishing and hanging out near the water.

[Ryan Knudsen]

It's not just retirees though. Florida has drawn people from all walks of life. And a big reason is that the state has historically been very affordable.

[Colleague/Co-host]

It has drawn people in other age groups, people who are blue collar workers who were, you know, nurses who were teachers, cops and firefighters. You know, they could find a place to maybe start a new chapter in their lives and, and live in a new development.

[Ryan Knudsen]

As a result, Florida's population only seemed to move in one direction up. But in the past few years, something has changed. That population growth has slowed dramatically. And the only people who seem to be moving to Florida these days are rich.

[Colleague/Co-host]

That appeal that it has long had and that accessibility that it has long had for people around the country who are more maybe middle income or even lower income has really faded.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Seems like that Florida dream is still alive, but only if you have enough money.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. I think Florida really illustrates national trends. It's sort of like you see it in an extreme version here. You know, greater population of millionaires, greater influx of wealthy people, greater array of services aimed at the rich, and yet a real significant squeeze of working class and middle class households.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Ryan knudsen. It's Wednesday, May 27th. Coming up on the show, the affordability crisis in florid foreign.

[Amazon Health AI (Ad Voice)]

Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts. Why did I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck on a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Healthcare just got less painful.

[Ryan Knudsen]

The population of Florida has grown steadily for years and during the pandemic it drew even more people, especially wealthier ones.

[Colleague/Co-host]

The state was a big draw for people from around the country, wanted to work remotely and be in a place that had fewer restrict. And so that really supercharged that influx of people, many of whom were increasingly higher income.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Florida is also one of the few states that doesn't have an income tax, which is appealing to those looking to get away from higher tax states.

[Colleague/Co-host]

You have wealthy people who have arrived, and then you have uber wealthy people who have arrived. We've seen billionaires making news with buying these, like, you know, vast estates and compounds. Why is it so expensive to go out in Miami?

[Blinds.com (Ad Voice)]

Well, a new report shows that our

[Colleague/Co-host]

city just took the spot for the highest concentration of millionaires in the United States. Ken Griffin's big announcement today, he's moving his hedge fund Citadel to South Florida.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly bought a mansion in Florida with his wife Priscilla.

[Colleague/Co-host]

The property is part of a gated

[Ryan Knudsen]

community on a small island in Miami that's commonly referred to as billionaire bunker. So there's been an influx of all these wealthier people that have moved to the state. Has that brought any benefits?

[Colleague/Co-host]

On the stimulative side, it is generating demand for high end construction, it's generating jobs, it's generating service sector employment because there's a lot of, you know, restaurants and services that cater to the wealthy. It's also boosted the tax coffers because even though there's no state income tax, there are property taxes. So there are positive economic benefits to this influx of wealth.

[Ryan Knudsen]

But this influx of wealthy people to Florida has also had an unintended consequence. It's made the state more expensive, and that's driving out lower and middle income residents.

[Colleague/Co-host]

So the homes get pricier, neighborhoods get gentrified, and so it squeezes people who are on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. And, you know, Florida is not a place that is known for generating, you know, an abundance of really high paying jobs. And so if those wages are not keeping up with higher rents and higher housing prices, it's forcing a lot of people to leave.

[Ryan Knudsen]

This is a dumb question, but why? I'm not sure I fully understand why wealthy people moving somewhere would result in costs going up for everybody.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Well, because they can push up prices for the existing inventory of homes. I mean, I witnessed it myself in where I live. The home prices started to really climb because you had a lot of people who could afford to bid up those homes coming in. And in my neighborhood, the prices went up 50%, 60%, because there was just so much demand from people who are coming from states where they are probably earning more. And then they were moving into this market which did have lower priced homes, and then they started bidding up the prices.

[Ryan Knudsen]

As more affluent people flock to Florida, the state's economy is starting to tailor itself to that. Look at Miami, for example.

[Colleague/Co-host]

So there are numerous examples of new services or new restaurants. Or new venues that have cropped up that cater to a really wealthy demographic. And so, you know, one example is luxury storage spaces. And these run, you know, three to five million dollars. There are these really large spaces in a very kind of secure environment with like, security guards and gates to get in. And they're designed for very wealthy people to display their prized possessions, their, you know, their fancy cars, their wine collection, their fine art. You know, it's like a 7,000 square foot storage unit that, you know, has all the bells and whistles. And then you have increasingly private clubs that have opened up, social clubs that are again, aimed at wealthy people who want to kind of hobnob with other wealthy people. And so you just see more and more of these kinds of things that are really aimed at the high end, highest end of the market, but are becoming more common.

[Ryan Knudsen]

But aren't these wealthy people that are moving there, aren't they creating jobs? I mean, a lot of them are business owners.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Well, so there's a few unique dynamics to it. So some of these really extremely wealthy people who have moved to Miami have really just moved themselves to Miami. But their main operations and their main places of employment, where they're actually, you know, where their workers are, remain in other states. And so even though they themselves are coming, in many cases, it doesn't involve like a wholesale relocation of a company with hundreds, even thousands of jobs that pay six figures. That is rare.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Meanwhile, Floridians are contending with another problem. Home and flood insurance premiums are skyrocketing because there's been so many powerful storms over the past few years.

[Colleague/Co-host]

For some people, we're talking double, triple over a course of, you know, a number of years. And that really changes the economic picture. I mean, a lot of people have been getting priced out of Florida solely on the insurance piece of this.

[Ryan Knudsen]

All of these forces have put a dark cloud over the Sunshine State. Now fewer people are moving there and a lot of people are leaving, which is a problem for a place that is for years relied on growth.

[Colleague/Co-host]

This is a state that has long depended on continued growth, continued real estate development to power its economy. You drive around the state and you see that there's just construction throughout and new strip malls and new commercial sectors. And so it's a state that's really predicated on growth. Its economy is predicated on growth. And so if fewer people are coming and more people are leaving, that becomes a problem, because there are so many sectors that really depend on that.

[Ryan Knudsen]

A few weeks ago, Ariane wrote an article that summed up these trends. And a lot of readers responded in the comments.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Many shared kind of their own concerns or their own experiences in the state, how, you know, they themselves had felt like they were getting priced out of the state. And so it drew a lot of comments, more than a thousand comments.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And one of the people weighing in on Ariane's reporting was a bit more high profile Florida Senator Rick Scott.

[Colleague/Co-host]

He tweeted the story and said that this raised concerns for him about the direction that Florida was heading in and that it illustrated how the state had gotten off track. And he said that it was these trends that were outlined in the story were bad for business and bad for Floridians. And so given the Senator's interest, we thought, well, maybe we should, you know, reach out to Senator Scott and engage him on this and see what he has to say about these affordability issues.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's after the break.

[Amazon Health AI (Ad Voice)]

Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. I. I can't stop scratching my downtown. Yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.

[Senator Rick Scott]

Morning.

[Amazon Health AI (Ad Voice)]

Morning.

[Senator Rick Scott]

How you doing? Nice to see you.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Nice to see you.

[Ryan Knudsen]

A few weeks ago, our colleague Ariane flew up to D.C. to sit down with Republican Senator Rick Scott. Scott also previously served as the state's governor from 2011 to 2019.

[Colleague/Co-host]

So we met at his office in Washington D.C. just across the street from the Capitol. And, you know, he gave us plenty of his time. We sat down in his office, which is adorned with lots of flags and lots of memorabilia from Florida. Senator, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us. Really appreciate it. I wanted to start off by going through some reader comments and proceeded to talk about, you know, some of these issues that the article had raised. And I ran by him some of the comments that, that our readers had. What are the implications of having an economy that is increasingly skewed toward the wealthy?

[Senator Rick Scott]

I think that is happening. Okay. If you look at, if you look at Naples, if you look at Palm beach, even some of the areas in Miami, the higher end is doing fine. Rich people are doing fine. Right. And the poor and bill class are having a hard time. So this can't go on. Right.

[Ryan Knudsen]

What stood out to you the most about what he said in the interview?

[Colleague/Co-host]

Well, you know, I, funny enough, the very first story That I did for the Wall Street Journal was about him. When he had just been elected governor, his whole thing as governor was that he was going to be the jobs governor. And so more than 15 years later, you know, he still had this like, lapel pin that says jobs on it. And that was kind of the lens through which he was looking at it. You know, I think a main point that he was making is that the state needs to create the types of jobs that are going to allow people to afford to stay in Florida.

[Senator Rick Scott]

We should be the driver of jobs for the country. People want to be in Florida. I mean, when you just fly into Florida, you're happy, right? So what do you have to do? You've got to recruit companies, you've got to make the best place to do business, you got to have the best education system, you got to have the best, most secure neighborhoods. And so. And you got to play to your strengths. So all those things have to happen.

[Ryan Knudsen]

As more low and middle income Floridians struggle to make ends meet. Scott says the solution is to create more jobs in the state.

[Colleague/Co-host]

He talked about trying to make the state more attractive to employers that will hire people with good paying jobs. And he gave examples of some employers that are already here, like Lockheed Martin, like Embraer. Those are companies that are involved in the aerospace industry in a part of the state known as the Space Coast. The private space sector is something that's growing, and Florida has been pretty successful in capturing a decent share of that market. And so he talked about wanting to create more of that.

[Ryan Knudsen]

How much is that something that he can actually do, though, as a U.S. senator?

[Colleague/Co-host]

Well, he acknowledged that they are somewhat limited at the federal level in terms of what they can do. He did talk about trying to help, to the extent possible on the housing front to try to create more affordable housing, to create policies that would incentivize that. But a lot of this does, you know, depend on what happens at the state and the local level.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Creating more affordable housing is something that most states are trying to figure out, not just Florida. And federal lawmakers have been discussing a new bill that aims to boost the supply of affordable housing across the country. The bill, called the 21st century road to Housing act, includes some big ideas to make homes more affordable.

[Colleague/Co-host]

It would be a significant overhaul of federal housing policy, and it creates incentives to create a larger supply of new construction and more affordable construction. It also seeks to restrict the involvement of institutional investors and buying up single family homes, which has been a factor in, you know, regular folks being able to afford those homes.

[Ryan Knudsen]

The bill has bipartisan support, but Scott was one of just a handful of senators who voted against it. In a statement, the senator said the bill was, quote, a haphazard attempt to put a federal government sized bandage over a problem that was caused by the federal government. Scott proposed a different bill to help first time buyers save for a down payment, but it hasn't advanced. Scott says that one way to bring about change in Florida is to simply make more people aware of the affordability problem.

[Senator Rick Scott]

One thing I've hoped by having the conversation like your article and promoting your article is to have people focus on it. We have elections this year and so I hope that everybody that's running will really focus, focus, because this is what's really important to people. I hope they'll focus on how do you get more jobs, how do you make sure education system is the best, how do you keep people safe, how do you drive down the cost of living? Because that's what people care about.

[Colleague/Co-host]

Right.

[Ryan Knudsen]

What does it say about America that Florida, which was sort of once this, like, you know, the dream of Florida affordable retirement, that it was a state that had a low cost of living, that it's no longer that, that it's becoming something much more expensive?

[Colleague/Co-host]

Yeah, I mean, I think it illustrates trends that we're seeing nationally. It's sort of, you know, a real illustration of this K shaped economy that has been getting a lot of attention, particularly over the past few years, where you have the very affluent who are really, you know, driving the economy in a lot of ways and they're doing well and they have the ability to weather any of these sort of, you know, financial and economic headwinds that the country is dealing with and to keep on spending. But then you have the lower end of that K of that economy that is really struggling and is having to cut back and is getting squeezed financially, is having to be very careful with their household budgets and so they're not participating in this economy. It's sort of hard to get your head around. But over time you come to realize that the state is increasingly a place that caters to and draws more of a wealthy population and that changes, you know, the identity of the state.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's all for today. Wednesday, May 27. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. If you like our show, follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday afternoon. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

[Blinds.com (Ad Voice)]

Did you know if your windows are bare, indoor temperatures can go up 20 degrees, turn the temperature down with blinds.com and get up to 50% off custom window treatments like solar roller shades and more during the Memorial Day Mega Sale. Whether you want to DIY it or have a pro handle everything, we've got you free samples, real design experts and zero pressure just help when you need it. Shop up to 50% off site wide and huge savings on door busters Right now during the Memorial Day mega [e-mail] rules and restrictions apply.