Before the Empire State sees its first snowfall, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers pack their bags and flock to the Sunshine State to wait out winter.

According to Visit Florida, the state hosted 127.8 million domestic visitors in 2022, the largest number of visitors in Florida’s history. And that doesn’t even include those with second homes.

Twenty-five years ago, Trustco Bank didn’t have a crystal ball, but it did have some really good data. Senior Vice President of Marketing J.R. George said they expected the need down south.

"The real natural fit is just the snowbirds,” said George. “I think New York state is probably the biggest contributor to the snowbirds going to Florida, which it has been for probably some time now. You know, so we actually did years of research and consideration."

That's why when they were looking to expand beyond the Capital Region, they didn't just add branches to New York's neighboring states, they decided to create a substantial footprint in Florida. Of Trustco’s 147 branches, 53 of them are now in the state of Florida.

"They’ve been customers up here for could be 20, 30 years,” said George. “They're retiring, or soon to be retiring. So they'll look for a house down there, and a lot of times, people associate that with moving to a new bank. That's not the case at all."

And the amount of New Yorkers becoming full-time Floridians is growing. In 2022, nearly 65,000 New Yorkers traded in their state driver’s licenses for Florida’s, according to Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

George said while the Florida expansion was initially focused on continuing service for their established New York customers, since opening their first Florida branch 20 years ago, now, those branches primarily serve Florida residents.

In 2021, Trustco's Florida locations reached $1 billion in deposits. Last year, they moved their operations team there.

"At the time, employment was a little bit easier to kind of pick up new people,” said George. “The hiring was easier. There were more applicants down in Florida. So those are things that we do look for. You know, that's what a lot of this was done for - additional growth opportunities. But it's also diversification."

If year-round sunshine isn’t reason enough, experts believe the pandemic and lower costs of living are playing a factor.

For George, keeping business going is all about adapting, while maintaining the old-school, personal-service mentality.

"If you call the branch location, even down to Florida, they're expected to answer the phone," said George. “They pick it up and their needs are addressed."