Despite its reputation as a choice retirement destination, young rich Americans are headed to Florida now.

The Sunshine State had a net gain of 1,786 young households earning at least $200,000 in 2022, making it the state with the highest net migration of wealthy Americans from ages 26 to 35, according to a SmartAsset analysis of IRS data. 

Across income brackets, Americans continue to be drawn to Florida's sandy beaches, world-class attractions and, likely, its lack of state income tax. 

"I'm happy that I decided to live in Florida," says Chabely Rodriguez, a 29-year-old anesthesiologist assistant who moved to Tampa, Florida, from her home state of New York after finishing her master's degree in 2021. She's one of the young people earning over $200,000 a year who have enjoyed the benefits of Florida living.

"I've gotten to do a lot of fun things and live a different life than I was living in New York," she told CNBC Make It in 2023, while earning over $210,000 a year. "[I] have a lot more space and have my money go a lot farther and enjoy life a little bit more down South."

Four other Southern states — Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee — join Florida in SmartAsset's top 10 states seeing the highest net migration of young high earners.

On the flip side, young rich Americans are fleeing states with high living costs in droves. California saw the largest net decline of young households earning $200,000 or more in 2022, losing over 3,200 more high-earners than it gained over the year.

Some parts of the Golden State may be able to compete with Florida's weather and entertainment draws. But many Americans, even high-earners, may struggle to afford a comfortable life in California. The state has notoriously high prices for necessities like housing, groceries and insurance.

In fact, two adults without kids would need nearly $30,000 more per year in San Francisco than in Miami to cover costs for housing, food, transportation, taxes, health care and other necessities, according to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute.

The states that lost the most young and rich households are less concentrated in one region, but five of them — California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan — are some of the most populated states in the country overall. It's feasible movers are looking for some of the space Rodriguez mentioned in other places.

Here are the states with the largest declines of young and rich households in 2022, according to SmartAsset:

Notably, migration in these states happened at a significantly larger scale than the states that gained young, wealthy residents.

California, for example, brought in over 7,400 of these households, but lost over 10,600. Florida, on the other hand, only saw 3,870 young and wealthy households move into the state, but with just over 2,000 leaving, it managed to net the highest gain of any state. 

While both Texas and New York received over 5,000 young rich new residents, New York saw a greater number leave, giving it a negative net migration.

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