Residents are fleeing the Empire State.
According to a report from The New York Post, 2022 marked the biggest year on record for New Yorkers flying south for the freedom; 64,577 Empire Staters exchanged their driver’s licenses for the Sunshine State version last year.
From The New York Post:
“They come in every day,” a staffer at a Jacksonville DMV office told The Post this week with a weary laugh. “I hear all the complaints. I feel like a therapist sometimes.”
The worker said the venting refugees harbor a long list of grievances — with taxes and eroding quality of life at the top of the list.
“It’s slowed down a little bit,” she said of the stampede. “But not by a whole lot, I can tell you that.”
Last year’s record-shattering number comfortably eclipsed the prior mark of 61,728 New Yorkers who made the Florida switch in 2021, according to the data.
Fashion designer Alvin Valley, who moved his main residence to Palm Beach, previously told The Post that the demographics of those moving south has expanded in recent years.
“First it was the billionaires,” he said. “Then it was the rich following behind them. Now you have the middle class.”
New York congressman Mike Lawler shared the news on Twitter: “A sad reality due to years of high taxes, reckless spending, a horrible business climate, lack of jobs, and woke, progressive policies. New York needs to change course if it is to stop the flow of outmigration and become a beacon of opportunity.”
More over at The New York Post:
A sad reality due to years of high taxes, reckless spending, a horrible business climate, lack of jobs, and woke, progressive policies. New York needs to change course if it is to stop the flow of outmigration and become a beacon of opportunity. https://t.co/pZZbTOA4US
— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) January 20, 2023