Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.

Florida has seen a population boom in recent years, but many longtime residents and recent transplants say rising costs and divisive politics have them fleeing the Sunshine State.

One of the first signs Barb Carter’s move to Florida wasn’t the postcard life she’d envisioned was the armadillo infestation in her home that caused $9,000 in damages. Then came a hurricane, ever present feuding over politics, and an inability to find a doctor to remove a tumor from her liver.

After a year in the Sunshine State, Carter packed her car with whatever belongings she could fit and headed back to her home state of Kansas — selling her Florida home at a $40,000 loss and leaving behind the children and grandchildren she’d moved to be closer to.

“So many people ask, ‘Why would you move back to Kansas?’ I tell them all the same thing — you’ve got to take your vacation goggles off,” Carter said. “For me, it was very falsely promoted. Once living there, I thought, you know, this isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all.”

  • @RememberTheApollo_
    16•8 months ago

    and it was expensive, very expensive.”

    People hear “no state income tax” and don’t read any further. Property taxes are high if you want to live anywhere civilized. For instance Ft Myers is 4.7%. Insurance is crazy, as noted in the article, and the state is not kind to aged retirees.

    It’s a great state if you’re an independently wealthy Republican.

    • @afraid_of_zombies
      5•8 months ago

      People hear “no state income tax” and don’t read any further.

      Yeps. Know a bunch of people who came here for the good schools and now are threatening to leave since their kids graduated.

      Like okay thanks for being a selfish asshole. Go enjoy your swampscape

    • EchoCraniumEnglish
      2•8 months ago

      Wife and I ended up in Tampa early 2006. No state tax, but man, they made up for it there in fees and licensing for everything imaginable. Seemed like a lot of service industry jobs and trades all required you to get a local license. Heck, even the gals working in strip clubs were required to get a license to perform. I know some skilled trade jobs typically required licenses, but Florida just seemed to go out of their way to try to squeeze lower and middle class workers who were just trying to get by.

    • @squirrelwithnut
      2•8 months ago

      Ft Myers does not have a 4.7% property tax rate. That would be ridiculously, catastrophically high. It decreased by 4.7% a years ago, but Florida is in the middle of the list for effective proper tax rate among all states in the country.

      But I agree with you. I’ve heard many people I know from my state say they are leaving for FL because of income tax. I feel like many don’t consider everything that actually goes into living there. Other than the politics, insurance companies starting to refuse home insurance is the scariest thing that would prevent me from ever living there.