I’ve lived in Florida for my entire life. Since 2012, my family has lived in the same home on the outskirts of Orlando. Drives that once took 40 minutes now stretch into an hour or more, a result of rapid population growth and unchecked development in a state unprepared to absorb it.
Between 2012 and 2024, Florida’s population grew by nearly 4 million people, according to FL Health Charts. In 2023 alone, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a net gain of 636,933 residents through state-to-state migration.
Much of the migration came from states with vastly different economic and political climates from Florida. Census data from 2023 shows over 70,000 people moved to Florida from New York that year, over 39,000 from California, over 24,000 from Massachusetts and tens of thousands from Northeastern states…