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About 86% of cost-strained Miamians named groceries and food in their top budget strains, just under the 88% nationwide.<\/p>\n
Joe Raedle<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Miamians have money on their minds.<\/p>\n
Nearly six in 10 Miami-metro-area residents rank the rising cost of living among their biggest barriers to progress, and almost 35% \u2014 a sizable plurality \u2014 said their top goal for the next year or two is to earn more money, according to a new report<\/a> from the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility.<\/p>\n The survey asked tens of thousands of Americans, including hundreds from the greater Miami area, how they\u2019re feeling financially. Across the nation, people are concerned with financial stability, earning more money and the rising cost of living, the data shows.<\/p>\n Miamians are no different. The findings track with a spiraling local affordability crisis \u2014 particularly for housing, but also for food<\/a>, transportation<\/a> and childcare<\/a> \u2014 that\u2019s pushed more and more Miami-area residents toward the financial brink.<\/p>\n South Floridians are about as concerned as anyone in America about the rising cost of living \u2014 roughly 60% of respondents across the nation ranked it among their top three obstacles, followed by debt and mental health struggles or stress. But what\u2019s driving those mounting costs depends somewhat on where you live.<\/p>\n In Miami, housing played an outsized role.<\/p>\n Nearly 70% of those Miami-area residents said housing costs were a major strain \u2014 more than 10 percentage points above the national average.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the widest gap between Miami and the rest of the country anywhere in the report, and that\u2019s probably no surprise to anyone who\u2019s signed a lease here recently.<\/p>\n In the five years to 2024, the Department of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s gauge of a fair-market rent for a two-bedroom in metro Miami went from $1,454 to $2,324, a roughly 60% jump. Over the same period, the median household income grew by only a third.<\/p>\n To comfortably rent that two-bedroom, someone would have to make at least $47 an hour, or $97,000 a year<\/a>, which is more than triple Florida\u2019s minimum wage.<\/p>\n That gap has forced roughly six in 10 Miami renters<\/a> to fork over at least 30% of their income to pay for housing. Nearly three in 10 spend at least half their monthly paycheck on rent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not much better for homeowners. Property values in Miami-Dade are up 60% since 2019, which have pushed property taxes up almost 50%, according to real estate analytics firm Cotality<\/a>.<\/p>\n And condo association fees have climbed more than 70% since 2016 to a median $617 per month \u2014 the highest in the country \u2014 research from Florida International University\u2019s Metropolitan Center shows.<\/p>\n Food was the most common complaint in the survey, but that\u2019s not unique to Miami. About 86% of cost-strained Miamians named groceries and food in their top budget strains, just under the 88% nationwide.<\/p>\n Restaurant prices ballooned by nearly a third between 2020 and 2025, and groceries by about a quarter over the same stretch, according to USDA data.<\/p>\n And half of Miami respondents listed transportation as a top line item \u2014 roughly in line with the national average. Greater Miami ties Houston for the highest transportation spending of the 10 biggest U.S. metros, roughly $14,400 a year per household.<\/p>\n Taken together, those costs are stretching Miamians\u2019 budgets. Just 31% of locals feel it\u2019s easier to make ends meet today than it was last year, and just under half think their financial situations will improve significantly in the next five years, the McKinsey survey shows.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, more than a half-million Miami-Dade households \u2014 56% of the county\u2019s total \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O\u2019Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.<\/p>\n![\"Most](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/YOhU2-what-are-your-top-aspirations-in-the-next-3-5-years-.png\" "\\"YOhU2-what-are-your-top-aspirations-in-the-next-3-5-years-.png\\"")
Most Miamians, and most Americans generally, wanted to earn more money in the next three to five years, the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility report found. Miami Herald Miami Herald Housing costs are highest<\/p>\n Groceries, housing and transportation were among Miamians\u2019 biggest cost strains, according to the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility report. Miami Herald Miami Herald What about groceries and gas?<\/p>\n
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