The president of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute responded to critics who claim Americans are abandoning Florida after moving there under false pretenses and insists the Sunshine State is “America’s paradise.”
While hundreds of thousands of people became Florida residents in 2022 drawn by the promise of spectacular weather, no income taxes and lower costs overall, nearly 500,000 left that same year.
Some of those who left blamed rising insurance costs, a hostile political environment, worsening traffic and extreme weather.
Paul du Quenoy, president of the Florida think tank Palm Beach Freedom Institute, wrote a scathing New York Post op-ed criticizing critics who suggest the Sunshine State is anything less than divine.
‘In fact, Florida is booming, popular, happy and free. It is, in fact, America’s paradise,” du Quenoy said.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans moved to Florida in 2022, drawn by the promise of spectacular weather, no income taxes and lower overall costs.
Those leaving the Sunshine State blamed rising insurance costs, a hostile political environment, worsening traffic and extreme weather.
Paul du Quenoy (pictured), president of the Florida think tank Palm Beach Freedom Institute, responded to critics who claimed Americans are leaving Florida.
‘Our net gain of 249,064 people in 2022 was the largest of any state in the union, as it was the previous two years, while blue state crime rates skyrocketed and most big cities governed by Democrats from our nation became depopulated wastelands of crime and decay.’
While many who participated in the national migration south fell in love with the state, others have grown tired of the extreme heat, hurricanes, dangerous native wildlife like crocodiles and alligators, and the rising cost of living.
Florida had a population boom during the pandemic: More than 700,000 people moved there in 2022; However, census data showed that almost 500,000 left that same year.
Shannon Pettypiece, senior digital policy reporter at NBC News interviewed former Floridians who felt the Sunshine State wasn’t as good as it seemed.
‘Based on a single grossly distorted statistic and interviews with exactly five disaffected former Floridians, it paints our state as a nightmare place, groaning under high spending, worsening traffic, poorer services and… what? further? — extreme weather,” du Quenoy said.
“At least he didn’t bore us with a predictable tirade about alligators (responsible for 30 deaths in the last 76 years, six fewer than the number of New Yorkers killed in January 2023).”
“While Pettypiece claims that nearly 500,000 people moved out of Florida in 2022, it barely acknowledges the fact that more than 700,000 moved that year, and the ratio of new Floridians to move-outs is rising rapidly,” he said. .
The state with the highest number of transplants to Florida was New York, with 90,000 leaving the Empire State for Florida in 2022.
A New York transplant was Louis Rotkowitz, who spent two years in Florida before moving back north and settling in North Carolina.
‘Like any good New Yorker, this is where you want to go. “It’s a complete fallacy.”
After landing a job as a primary care doctor while his wife was teaching, he quickly fell out of love with the area, as it would take him more than an hour each way to get to and from work.
Then the cost of his homeowners association dues doubled, essentially ending any Floridian dreams he may have had.
Du Quenoy responded to people who said residents are leaving Florida because of the wildlife threat and said alligators have only been responsible for 30 deaths in the last 76 years.
NBC News senior digital politics reporter Shannon Pettypiece interviewed former Floridians who felt the Sunshine State wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Many complained about expensive real estate and rising home insurance rates.
When it comes to purchasing insurance to keep a roof over your head, home insurance soared 42 percent in 2023 to around $6,000 per year, and the state’s ferocious weather events are to blame, following a series of hurricanes and the floods that followed.
When it comes to auto insurance, getting coverage in Florida is 50 percent higher than the national average.
As for work, things are nothing out of this world, as the average salary in Florida is among the lowest in the country.
The state has an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent, well below the national average of 3.9 percent, but wages are also among the lowest.
‘I had a good salary, but we barely made ends meet. We had zero quality of life,” Rotkowitz said.
Rotkowitz also expressed discomfort with a new 2023 law that allows people to carry a concealed weapon without a license.
“Everyone is walking around with guns,” he said. “I consider myself a conservative person, but if you want to carry a gun you have to have a license, there should be some kind of process.”
Barb Carter moved to Florida from Kansas to be closer to her grandchildren, but decided it wasn’t for her after an armadillo infestation in her home caused $9,000 in damage.
He said Hurricane Ian blew the roof off his house and he had difficulty finding a doctor to remove a tumor from his liver.
‘A lot of people ask, ‘Why would you go back to Kansas?’ I tell everyone the same thing: You should take off your vacation glasses,” Carter said.
‘For me, it was a very false promotion. Once I lived there, I thought, you know, this is not all you guys thought it was, at all.
Du Quenoy’s article highlighted the fact that people from the north are moving to Florida.
Du Quenoy’s article highlighted the fact that people from the north are moving to Florida.
A tweet from the Palm Beach Freedom Institute told critics: “Enjoy your high taxes, terrible crime rate, and earthquakes.”
A tweet from the Palm Beach Freedom Institute told critics: “Enjoy your high taxes, terrible crime rate, and earthquakes.”
“As expected, the four states with the highest net emigration in 2022 were New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey, governed by radical Democrats,” du Quenoy said.
“New York City alone has lost more than 400,000 people since 2020. So many state residents left, that year’s census cost New York a congressional seat, while Florida gained one.”
Du Quenoy acknowledges some of the complaints from former residents, such as heavy traffic and problems finding doctors, but said that’s because people are flocking to the state.
“These drawbacks are byproducts of Florida’s runaway success, rather than symptoms of an alleged deficiency,” he said.
“The reality is that people want to be here, and not where they are, in greater numbers than ever.”