For more than a hundred years, Miami has drawn the wealthy with its alluring mix of sun, sea, sand, and style. Recently, thanks to a proposed tax on the assets of California’s billionaires, the Florida city has been absorbing a new wave of a very specific kind of wealth, with tech founders including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin moving to the Magic City, relocations to what some have called Silicon Beach. (In fact, Zuckerberg broke Miami real estate records with his purchase of a $170 million under-construction mansion on Indian Creek island, a.k.a. Billionaire Bunker.) The moves have people asking, will the industry follow its titans east? Could Miami become the new Silicon Valley?
Ryan Carrigan, the founder of MoveBuddha, an online resource for people planning to relocate, says that signs are pointing towards yes. In 2024, MoveBuddha’s data had Miami as the 20th most searched destination for people looking to leave San Francisco. By the end of 2025, the Magic City had jumped to fourth.
“The influx of high-profile founders and executives could meaningfully elevate Miami’s profile as an emerging tech hub, helping attract more talent and investors,” said Emily Zheng, a senior VC Analyst for PitchBook, a data and analytics platform for capital markets. “If even a portion of these executives actively invest or engage locally, it could accelerate the development of the region’s venture ecosystem,” she adds, cautioning that “while this wave of attention is a powerful catalyst, the long-term impact will ultimately depend on whether the momentum and capital are sustained.”
A growing migration
Tech bros and their businesses moving to Miami is not a new phenomenon. The boldfaced names buying waterfront mansions are only the latest in a wave that started during the pandemic, if not before. Maria Derchi Russo, the CEO of Refresh Miami, a 16,000-member, 20-year-old nonprofit hub for the tech community, says the city “is no longer just a pandemic era headline. It’s an ecosystem that’s maturing. The loud move-to-Miami hype has cooled into more of a steady reality.”…