Florida
Florida residents 'looking to escape' due to rising home prices & diminishing affordability, new report says
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The rising cost of living in Florida has many residents considering a move out of the Sunshine State, according to a new report.
A report titled “Florida on the brink” was compiled by the data tech firm Cotality, and it describes a state under stress.
WATCH BELOW: Report outlines why Florida residents leaving for other states
Here’s why Florida residents are ‘looking to escape’
“The promise of sunshine and opportunity has been replaced by something a little less sunny — rising home prices, diminishing affordability, and growing pressure on infrastructure,” the report said.
There is a pipeline of Florida residents fleeing to more affordable southern states like Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
“What we saw in Florida, after a period of very strong immigration to Florida, there is now a little bit less inbound, a bit more outbound migration,” Selma Happ, the chief economist at Cotality, said. “A lot of people who are migrating from Florida are going to neighboring states.”
The report cited billion-dollar hurricanes and costs soaring so high, especially in South Florida, that the state is heading down a path similar to California’s population drain.
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Insurance remains a big drag on finances even as the state tries to slow down a coverage crisis.
“You have rising insurance, you have rising property taxes, so they can no longer sustain that home, and then they decide to leave for the areas more affordable and maybe where insurance costs are a little bit less,” Happ said.
But even with the exodus, Florida is still attracting new residents.
The report raised the question of whether there is a way to turn around the pressures the state and its residents are facing.
“Florida — a state once synonymous with getting away — is starting to see signs of people looking to escape,” the report said.
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The Florida Attorney General’s Office on Thursday, Dec. 11, filed a lawsuit against popular online gaming platform Roblox, accusing the company of failing to protect its millions of underage users from predatory adults who would “find, groom, and abuse children.”
“Roblox aggressively markets to young children, but fails to protect them from sexual predators,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a post to X. “As a father of three little ones and as Florida’s attorney general, my number one priority is simple: to protect our kids.”
The lawsuit claims Florida children have been talked into taking and sending sexual images of themselves and lists several recent incidences, including a 20-year-old California man arrested last month for having sexually explicit conversations with a Palm Coast child and asking for nude photos.
A Roblox spokesperson said the lawsuit “fundamentally misrepresents how Roblox works.”
“We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications,” Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement, adding that the company — currently the most downloaded game in the world — will be rolling out additional safeguards “beyond what is required by law and what other platforms do.”
Read Florida’s lawsuit against Roblox
Can’t see the embedded document? Click here.
What is Roblox?
San Mateo, California-based Roblox, released in 2006, hosts millions of user-created games (or “experiences”) constructed with the platform’s built-in game engine. Any user can create a game and share it with others, and there are millions of games available of all types.
The game platform and most games are free to use, but some cost to play. There is also a thriving economy based on Robux, an in-game virtual currency used to purchase virtual items. Roblox offers a subscription service called Roblox Premium that provides access to more features and a monthly allowance of Roblox.
Voice chat is available, but only for users aged 13 or older with verified ages. Age ratings were introduced for games in 2022, and in 2023, 17+ games were permitted to include more graphic violence, romance, and drinking.
According to Roblox, as of 2020, the monthly playerbase included half of all American children under the age of 16.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 2026 football schedule for the Florida Gators has been set. Next year’s slate was unveiled Thursday night on SEC Network.
The most notable dates are Florida’s SEC opener on Sept. 19 — a Week 3 trip to Auburn, where the Gators haven’t played since 2011 — along with a road game at Texas on Oct. 17 and home games against Ole Miss (Sept. 26) and Oklahoma (Nov. 7).
Next season will mark the Sooners’ first-ever visit to Gainesville. The teams have previously played twice in the postseason, with the Gators defeating Oklahoma 24-14 in their first-ever meeting to win the 2008 national championship.
The Gators open the season in The Swamp on Sept. 5 against Florida Atlantic. UF’s other non-conference opponents will be Campbell (Sept. 12) and at Florida State (Nov. 28).
Florida is also hosting South Carolina (Oct. 10) and Vanderbilt (Nov. 21). The Gators haven’t played the Gamecocks or the Commodores since 2023.
UF takes on Georgia in Atlanta on Oct. 31 after the bye week. Florida’s other road games are Missouri (Oct. 3), Texas (Oct. 17) and Kentucky (Nov. 14).
The Gators will be led by first-year coach Jon Sumrall. He won the American Conference title with Tulane last week and has the Green Wave in the College Football Playoffs. They will have a rematch against Ole Miss on Dec. 20 in the first round after losing in Oxford, 45-10, on Sept. 20.
Sumrall was back in Gainesville this week to assemble his staff. So far, he has hired offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, defensive coordinator Brade White and defensive line coach Gerald Chatman.
Date
Opponent
Location
Sept. 5
Florida Atlantic
Gainesville, Florida
Sept. 12
Campbell
Gainesville, Florida
Sept. 19
at Auburn
Auburn, Alabama
Sept. 26
Ole Miss
Gainesville, Florida
Oct. 3
at Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Oct. 10
South Carolina
Gainesville, Florida
Oct. 17
at Texas
Austin, Texas
Oct. 24
Bye
Oct. 31
Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Nov. 7
Oklahoma
Gainesville, Florida
Nov. 14
at Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Nov. 21
Vanderbilt
Gainesville, Florida
Nov. 28
at Florida State
Tallahassee, Florida
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