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Miami-Dade County has attracted wealth from other parts of the country. Indian Creek, dubbed the \u201cBillionaire Bunker,\u201d is a secluded island community off of Miami Beach. The exclusive neighborhood has homes owned by Jeff Bezos, Ivanka Trump, Julio Iglesias and now Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n
Become Legendary \/ Dina Goldentayer.<\/p>\n
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Shrinking Middle<\/p>\n
\n The Shrinking Middle is a series by the Miami Herald Editorial Board that explores how South Florida\u2019s housing crisis has impacted the middle class, as well as solutions to our housing shortage.\n <\/p>\n
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Miami-Dade\u2019s population shrank last year \u2014 the third-largest numeric population drop of all the counties in the nation in 2025, according to U.S. Census number released in late March<\/a>.<\/p>\n The county lost an estimated 10,115 residents between July 2024 and July 2025, largely because of a decrease in international migration, according to the Census Bureau. President Trump\u2019s immigration and mass deportation policies are probably to blame.<\/p>\n The population decline alone doesn\u2019t tell you everything that\u2019s happening in Miami-Dade. There\u2019s another trend that\u2019s concerning, and it\u2019s got less to do with immigration and more to do with a topic most Miamians have experienced: the cost of living.<\/p>\n Housing prices, low wages and other factors are putting a squeeze on residents, pushing people to leave, as the Herald has reported. It\u2019s happening despite all the hype about people relocating from other parts of the U.S. to the region during the pandemic.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say no one is moving to Miami-Dade. They are, and they tend to have fairly high incomes, with an average annual salary of $178,000, according to IRS data compiled by the Jorge M. P\u00e9rez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University. Those leaving the county, meanwhile, have lower incomes, with an average salary of about $89,000. This data, which is from 2023, is based on address changes reported on income tax returns and has been tracked by Maria Ilcheva, a researcher and professor at the Metropolitan Center.<\/p>\n The picture that emerges from all of this information is one of concentration of wealth: Higher earners are moving here, lower-wage workers are leaving and the population as a whole has started to shrink. That\u2019s not good for a community\u2019s long-term economic health.<\/p>\n At 2.8 million people, Miami-Dade\u2019s population is still larger than it was in 2020, but that growth can be attributed mostly to the migration of people from other countries and new births. Between 2020 and 2025, more people left Miami-Dade for other parts of Florida and the U.S. than moved here from those places. The county\u2019s domestic net migration \u2014 meaning the number of arrivals from within the U.S. minus the number of departures \u2014 was negative 278,000 for that period, according to research by the Metropolitan Center.<\/p>\n The gap in average annual salaries between out-of-county arrivals and those who are leaving is about $90,000, the IRS data shows, and it confirms what many already know: South Florida is increasingly becoming a place only the wealthy can afford, whereas the middle-class struggles to get by. Will South Florida eventually become like San Francisco where even higher earners feel priced out?<\/p>\n Our local and state leaders should be paying attention.<\/p>\n Attracting wealth has many benefits for a community. Business creations in Miami-Dade have increased, Ilcheva told the Herald Editorial Board. Those new residents have more spending power, helping fuel the local economy and spurring the opening of restaurants, the construction of real estate and the growth of other industries. Despite losing people to other parts of the state and the country, like Georgia and North Carolina, Miami-Dade still became wealthier \u2014 the county gained $484 million in adjusted gross income, according to the 2023 IRS data.<\/p>\n But the point isn\u2019t to just celebrate whenever another billionaire buys a home in South Florida. More wealth should translate into economic opportunities for those who are already here.<\/p>\n As Ilcheva said, there\u2019s the risk that Miami-Dade could become a \u201cvictim of your own success.\u201d The inflow of wealth puts pressure on the cost of housing and everything else. This is a problem for businesses and the region\u2019s overall economic health.<\/p>\n Miami-Dade is losing mostly young workers, ages 20 to 29, without a college degree, Ned Murray, associate director of FIU\u2019s Metropolitan Center, told the Editorial Board. For an economy that\u2019s largely dependent on low-wage industries like hospitality and services, this is not sustainable.<\/p>\n Any local economy needs a workforce. It needs a middle-class. Even the wealthiest won\u2019t like being here if their quality of life is hurt by an uneven economy. Our leaders have known this for quite some time. There are no simple fixes other than making affordability a long-term priority, not just lip service.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> What’s an editorial? <\/p>\n Editorials<\/a> are opinion pieces that reflect the views of the Miami Herald Editorial Board, a group of opinion journalists that operates separately from the Miami Herald newsroom. Miami Herald Editorial Board<\/a> members are: opinion editor Amy Driscoll and editorial writers Isadora Rangel and Mary Anna Mancuso. Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.<\/p>\n What’s the difference between an op-ed and a column? <\/p>\n Op-Eds<\/a>, short for \u201copposite the editorial page,\u201d are opinion pieces written by contributors who are not affiliated with our Editorial Board. <\/p>\n Columns<\/a> are recurring opinion pieces that represent the views of staff columnists that regularly appear on the op-ed page. <\/p>\n How does the Miami Herald Editorial Board decide what to write about? <\/p>\n The Editorial Board, made up of experienced opinion journalists, primarily addresses local and state issues that affect South Florida residents. Each board member has an area of focus, such as education, COVID or local government policy. Board members meet daily and bring up an array of topics for discussion. Once a topic is fully discussed, board members will further report the issue, interviewing stakeholders and others involved and affected, so that the board can present the most informed opinion possible. We strive to provide our community with thought leadership that advocates for policies and priorities that strengthen our communities. Our editorials promote social justice, fairness in economic, educational and social opportunities and an end to systemic racism and inequality. The Editorial Board is separate from the reporters and editors of the Miami Herald newsroom.<\/p>\n How can I contribute to the Miami Herald Opinion section? <\/p>\n The Editorial Board accepts op-ed submissions of 650-700 words from community members who want to argue a specific viewpoint or idea that is relevant to our area. You can email an op-ed submission to oped@miamiherald.com. We also accept 150-word letters to the editor from readers who want to offer their points of view on current issues. For more information on how to submit a letter, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 6:00 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade County has attracted wealth from other parts of the country. Indian Creek, dubbed the \u201cBillionaire Bunker,\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-230863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Percent](\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/library\/visualizations\/2026\/demo\/percent-change-county-population\/_jcr_content\/root\/responsivegrid\/embeddableimage.coreimg.jpeg\/1774456041483\/percent-change-in-county-population.jpeg\" "\\"Percent")
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