Half of Floridians would consider leaving the state due to the rising cost of living, according to a new poll by Florida Atlantic University’s Business and Economic Polling Initiative (BEPI).
The poll aimed to find out if the American dream is still alive amid economic challenges.
“We wanted to see if Americans are still optimistic about their life and standard of living and the economy in general,” Senior Instructor at Florida Atlantic University Eric Levy told News 6.
BEPI surveyed 1,000 Floridians to gauge their outlook on life, the economy, and their standard of living.
The majority of Floridians are hanging on to the “American Dream,” but rising housing costs and everyday expenses make it difficult to achieve, the poll found.
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The results showed that 90% of respondents are at least somewhat concerned about inflation, and 80% worry about housing affordability.
Only 36% are confident their household financial situation will improve in the next few years, while 43% are somewhat confident.
Despite these concerns, 53% of Floridians still believe the American dream holds true.
“I think you can take our results in either direction, right?” Levy said. “These are big numbers; they’re really concerned. And yet, despite how concerned they are, there is still kind of an unexplained optimism that they still think that things are going to be better in the future.”
Living paycheck to paycheck has become the norm, with 43% saying they currently do so and 26% occasionally. Only 48% have an emergency fund covering at least three months of expenses.
Sean Snaith, director of UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, explained that rising housing prices, mortgage rates and insurance premiums have put pressure on residents.
“It’s been a challenging time; inflation is now coming down. That doesn’t mean the prices of everything come back down; it just means the prices of everything don’t continue to rise at such a rapid rate,” Snaith said.
However, Snaith pointed to reasons for optimism, like the unemployment rate.
“Right now, the labor market, while hiring has slowed significantly, the unemployment rate remains at historically low levels. So, we aren’t seeing people being laid off across the board, in which case, you start to see sentiment turning around. By and large, most people who want to work are able to find a job or have a job,” he explained.
Although 53% said they would consider leaving Florida, Levy believes this is a misguided perception.
“My kind of sense is that people are maybe falling for the grass is greener on the other side,” he said. “Although the majority did say they were considering leaving, I think that was more of a short-term trend, rather than a longer-term thing that we’re seeing.”
For the full poll results, click here.