{"id":4262,"date":"2026-07-26T13:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:14:14","slug":"no-miami-isnt-more-expensive-than-new-york-but-it-may-be-less-affordable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262","title":{"rendered":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The thing is, \u201cexpensive\u201d is all relative. A locale\u2019s cost of living isn\u2019t a measure of raw prices\u2014it\u2019s prices weighted against what local residents earn. The BEA finding doesn\u2019t mean that an apartment in Miami costs more than a comparable one in Manhattan. In fact, Manhattan\u2019s median listing price per square foot was $1,489 in May 2026, more than three times Miami-Dade County\u2019s $465, according to data retrieved via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. What\u2019s changed is that Miami\u2019s prices have climbed further, relative to what the average Miami resident earns, compared to how New York\u2019s prices have climbed relative to what New Yorkers earn. And truth be told, both cities are viciously expensive.<\/p>\n

Read more Jeff Raikes: The talent debt I warned about is now showing up in the data<\/a><\/p>\n

That distinction also explains why the comparison misses how people actually live in each city. Cost-of-living indexes fold in categories that barely register for a Manhattan renter but hit Miami households hard, chief among them car ownership, along with rising insurance premiums, private school tuition and restaurant costs that have all climbed there over the past year. South Florida\u2019s consumer price index has risen 36% since 2019, more than any metro area tracked by the government, except Tampa. None of that has much to do with the price of Manhattan real estate.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s all about affordability<\/h2>\n

Michelle Griffith, a broker at Douglas Elliman, has been fielding questions about the report since it published. It\u2019s really about that one word: affordability. \u201cAffordability now in Miami, especially\u2014and listen, I feel really badly for the people who were living in Miami [before this influx of new residents], and now all of a sudden the restaurant costs are going up, the transportation costs are going up, insurance costs are going up, rent is going up, tuition to send your kids to school is going up.\u201d That\u2019s a genuine problem for Miami residents, she added, but there isn\u2019t evidence that Miami has caught up to New York on the numbers that actually move real estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we really break down the numbers, the jobs are based in New York City,\u201d Griffith said. New York City\u2019s metro area added 86,800 jobs over the year through December 2025, more than double Miami\u2019s total and more than the combined job gains in Dallas, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, according to the monthly economic snapshot. In contrast, Miami\u2019s metro area only added 42,600 jobs over the same 12-month stretch, according to BLS regional employment data, less than half of New York\u2019s total, despite Miami posting the faster percentage growth rate of the two metros.<\/p>\n

Those growth rates tell the story when taken in context of their metro areas. With nearly 20 million residents, New York\u2019s metro can add 86,800 jobs and still post a modest growth rate of under 1%, while Miami\u2019s smaller, 6.4-million-person region needs only half as many new positions to post a growth rate roughly 50% higher. Simultaneously, there are three times as many people living in the New York metro area than Miami, meaning that on a per-resident basis, Miami is actually generating new jobs at a faster clip than New York: roughly 6.7 new jobs per 1,000 residents in Miami compared with about 4.4 per 1,000 in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as people like to put Miami up against Manhattan, if you look at prime locations and compare that to prime locations in Miami, we are still significantly higher on a price per square foot.\u201d She noted the underlying data compared a broad swath of South Florida against greater New York City. Even Miami\u2019s most expensive enclave, Fisher Island, posted a Q1 2026 price per square foot of $2,391\u2014below Manhattan\u2019s overall condo average of $2,431 per square foot, according to Miller Samuel, a New York City-based real estate appraisal and consulting firm. Set prime Miami against prime Manhattan instead, she said, \u201cit\u2019s not even a contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThat article was really talking about affordability,\u201d she said. \u201cWhereas if you take New York City, our barriers to entry are very high, right? Our price points are very high. Our average rent has always been high.\u201d Miami built its reputation as the place where money went further, which means a rising cost of living there registers as a real shift, while the same costs in New York barely move the needle, because they were already high. \u201cNow they\u2019re having affordability issues, and I think that\u2019s really making people think twice about leaving New York,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cI found those headlines as a very pro-New-York-City stance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more This millennial job-hopped every 6 months to $90K by the time she was 23\u2014she left it all behind to become a salary negotiation guru<\/a><\/p>\n

New York is where everything is<\/h2>\n

She also said the idea that jobs are following residents south just isn\u2019t true anymore as return to office mandates are slowly bringing about the end of the era of fully remote work. \u201cThe jobs and the opportunities are still centered in New York, and Manhattan still offers better long-term real estate fundamentals,\u201d she said. \u201cThe world\u2019s wealth and businesses continue to converge in Manhattan. If you want to be in tech, you\u2019re in San Francisco. But finance, fintech, entertainment? There are so many types of businesses that all converge in Manhattan, which gives reason for businesses to be here and people to live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When asked about companies opening satellite offices in cities like Miami, Griffith didn\u2019t dismiss the trend, but she doesn\u2019t see it as a retreat from New York. She pointed to J.P. Morgan as the clearest example. The bank has doubled its Miami office, building out a Florida workforce that now totals roughly 16,400 employees. But in New York, J.P. Morgan employs more than 20,000, its largest single hub, and just opened a $3 billion, 2.5-million-square-foot headquarters built to house 14,000 workers. \u201cThese companies aren\u2019t leaving New York,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cThey\u2019re adding Florida. New York is still the anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still so many people in finance which are here because this is the mecca for finance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In her experience, the split between the two cities runs along life stage more than price. \u201cIf you\u2019re younger and you need a job, you\u2019re coming to New York,\u201d she said, pointing to the city\u2019s job base alongside a school system she says has no real substitute. It\u2019s only once clients retire that she sees real movement south, and even then, it\u2019s rarely a clean break. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t always mean that they\u2019re selling their place in New York,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just means that they\u2019re also picking up another property in South Florida to have a slower lifestyle.\u201d Some split the calendar rather than the difference; she pointed to clients who still spend summers in the Hamptons because Florida heat that time of year, in her words, \u201cis miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She pointed to Tribeca\u2019s recovery after September 11, when predictions that the neighborhood was finished gave way, within months, to a rebound that helped make 10013 one of the highest-priced zip codes in the country for two decades running. Just for the week of July 13 to 19, Manhattan logged 27 contracts signed at $4 million and above, according to the Olshan Luxury Market Report, just two fewer than the week before. \u201cThis is probably going to be one of my biggest years, and I\u2019ve been doing this over 15 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Whatever Miami has picked up in cost, Griffith said, it hasn\u2019t picked up what New York already had. \u201cYou cannot replicate the lifestyle in Manhattan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more George Martin never out-wrote the Beatles. That\u2019s exactly why he\u2019s the AI leadership lesson we need now<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Now they’re having affordability issues, and I think that’s really making people think twice about leaving New York,” broker Michelle Griffith said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homebuying"],"yoast_head":"\nNo, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Now they're having affordability issues, and I think that's really making people think twice about leaving New York," broker Michelle Griffith said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262\"},\"wordCount\":1312,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"homebuying\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262\",\"name\":\"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4262#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cross Country Moving Team\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","og_description":"\"Now they're having affordability issues, and I think that's really making people think twice about leaving New York,\" broker Michelle Griffith said.","og_url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262","og_site_name":"Cross Country Moving Team","article_published_time":"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"headline":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019","datePublished":"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262"},"wordCount":1312,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp","articleSection":["homebuying"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262","name":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-26T13:14:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/54ca0fbd07e77d68b9d8a38663540049.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4262#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"No, Miami isn\u2019t more expensive than New York. But it may be less \u2018affordable\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/","name":"Cross Country Moving Team","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}