Study Show Many Florida Residents Want To Leave The Sunshine State

Although Florida has been one of the fastest growing states in the county, one other thing is also happening. Many Florida residents want to leave. With crazy high rent prices and a rapidly approaching hurricane season it's not hard to understand.

Moving company SelfStorage.com  analyzed Google search data with keywords such as "haulage," "moving companies," "packing and unpacking services" and "professional movers”. These keywords show people who are doing the research to get out. They then broke down all the data across the 50 states. Turns out, Florida ranks #1 as the state most Americans want to move from.

Florida's search volume of those keywords was 152 per 100,000 population. Putting us in first. As comparison, Utah was second with 144 per 100,000 people. There's been a lot of talk about people wanting to leave New York, Sure enough, they show up in the data. New York ranked fifth with the search volume of 124 per 100,000 residents. Ready for this?

They also checked the keywords to see where people wanted to move to. They used the phrases "Relocate to state," "Houses in state" and "Move to state." Texas and Florida ranked first and second in those searches.

So Florida ranks as the top state that people want to leave, but also ranks as one of the highest states people want to move to.

Here's the thing, Florida is a big state. I know people that moved from Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian, by moving to another part of Florida. They lived in the Tropicana neighborhood that got hit by a tornado back in January of 2022. They put things back together before Ian flooded the whole area. After two disasters in one year they decided to move to Northern Florida. But are staying in Florida.

So if you're living in Southwest Florida, or maybe Miami and the East Coast cities, maybe you're considering moving. It looks like a lot of Florida residents are. But - there's plenty of people waiting to rent your apartment or buy your house.

Twice a year, new laws go into effect and here are 10 new laws that kick in July 1 in Florida.

Saturday begins a new month and several new laws will go into effect following the passage of over 200 bills during the 2023 legislative session. Governor Ron DeSantis approved almost 300 bills with about one-third going into effect immediately or starting in October or January. He also passed a record $116.5 billion budget. Many controversial issues were debated. These new laws reflect a range of changes in various areas. We'll see new laws in education, social issues, technology and public safety within the state of Florida.

Not all of the new laws will impact your day to day life. But certainly, there are some that people will be talking about. From guns to TikTok to restrooms to what can be taught in schools. Everyone has an opinion, so expect lots of chatter around the office. Especially if you have a lot of outspoken people and lot of very strong opinions, get ready. For a more extensive list of the new laws, click here. Below are the biggest and the ones to affect the most people in Florida.

Starting July 1, guns can be carried nearly anywhere, with some exceptions like airports. You will need to be qualified, but no longer need a permit.

To sentence someone to death, up until this point, there had to be a unanimous jury vote. Beginning July 1, 8 out of 12 members on a jury will need to vote for the execution. 

For companies employing 25 or more workers, verification must be done to ensure they can legally work in the United States.

Teachers in Florida will give 45 minutes of class time to the events of 9/11.

TikTok will be prohibited on any devices owned by school districts and through internet access provided by districts. 

Transgender students will not be addressed by their preferred pronoun by school staff. In addition, the new law will require people to use bathrooms based on their sex assigned at birth.  

Schools will be required to remove books within 5 days if there are complaints about their content.

The Florida state guard will more than triple from 400 to 1,500 members.

After the death of Tyre Sampson who fell from a ride in Orlando last year, the new law will put in place additional safety requirements on amusement rides. 

This law will allow school districts to use cameras designed to capture images of drivers who pass school buses illegally.