People moving out of New York state contributed the most to Florida’s population growth, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released on Monday.
Between July 2017 and July 2018, 63,722 New York residents moved to the Sunshine State — more than any other state in the same period of time.
New York has been seeing an outward migration for several years now, mostly from rural regions upstate.
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More than 1 million residents have moved away in the last decade and Florida is often one of the top places New Yorkers have left for. In 2014, Florida surpassed New York as the third most populated state after California and Texas.
The population swing to Florida has often become a topic in state politics. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo attributed the state’s outflow to the weather.
“Someone wants to move to Florida, they want to move to Florida,” Cuomo said last summer. “God bless them. They want to fish, they want the warm weather, God bless them. But we were chasing people from this state. We are now attracting people to this state.”
It’s likely New York will lose at least one congressional seat after the 2020 Census.