Why one woman bolted from ‘tax haven’ Florida, and others are leaving too

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The Sunshine State has fallen from grace as a “tax haven” — prompting Lorraine English, 72, to move from Bradenton, Florida, to Asheville, North Carolina, because of frightening natural disasters and the rising cost of homeownership.

Marketed as a tax haven, Florida lures immigrants with promises of zero income tax and special tax breaks that accrue to long-time homeowners (1). It’s a powerful draw for residents of states with high income taxes, like California (up to 13.3%) and New York (up to 10.9%) (2).

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But storms have swept away some of the financial benefits of living of the move. On top of weathering a spate of natural disasters, Florida homeowners like English have been blindsided by other costs. One of the biggest fees: home insurance.

Income tax haven, insurance hell

Florida is the most expensive home insurance market (3) in the country.

“Two years ago, my homeowners’ insurance with hurricane coverage — not including flood insurance, which is a separate policy — went up to $7,000 a year,” English told Business Insider (4).

How other states stack up: Assuming $300,000 of dwelling coverage, the typical American pays $2,543. Insurance.com says Florida residents pay $7,136 for identical coverage (5).

Florida home insurance has gone up because of insurance fraud, inflation of construction costs, and natural disasters, experts say (6).

“The last storm I went through in Florida was Hurricane Milton,” English said. She spent $6,500 fixing damage to her pool cage and considered herself “lucky.”

Florida’s tax haven status is attractive to residents in states with high income taxes. Kiplinger says a retiree earning $70,000 per year in New York could pay roughly $4,000 in state income tax on their retirement income, whereas moving to Florida would eliminate that tax (7).

How much of that savings is left after home insurance fees? For a policy on a $600,000 house, the typical NY homeowner pays $3,021 (8).

The typical Floridian pays $13,729. Say you and your partner are saving $4,000 each because of zero income taxes. If your household pays $8,000 less for income taxes but pays $10,000 more for home insurance, is it worth it?

The increased risks have driven several insurance companies — namely Allstate and State Farm — to stop underwriting new policies in the state.

But there are still ways in which you can lower your home insurance.

For instance, you can shop around and compare rates offered by top insurance providers for three through OfficialHomeInsurance.com.

Simply enter some basic information about yourself and the type of home you own, and OfficialHomeInsurance will browse through their database of over 200 insurers and display the lowest quotes for you in just two minutes.

You could save an average of $482 per year by shopping around and choosing the best available rate.

Not just home insurance

Car insurance rates in Florida have also skyrocketed in recent years. Average car insurance premiums have risen by 75% between 2020 and 2025 — marking the largest jump across the nation. Increased insurance losses due to climate disasters, more frequent accidents, inflation, uninsured motorists and high levels of litigation have contributed to the significant increase in car insurance rates in the Sunshine State.

The good news? Shopping around and comparing car insurance rates from multiple lenders can help you lower this bill — just like with home insurance.

Platforms like Insurify, which lets you easily shop around and compare quotes offered by reputable insurance providers. Just by comparing quotes and selecting the best deal, customers could see average potential savings of $1,100.

All you have to do is answer a few basic questions, and Insurify will show you the most affordable deals in as little as three minutes.

Not only is the process 100% free, but you could also save up to 15% by bundling your car and home insurance.

Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?

Property taxes are rising

Florida has also been collecting more property taxes from residents. Some say it’s been making housing less affordable. The nonprofit Florida TaxWatch says government levies have more than doubled over the last decade, faster than the pace of inflation and population growth combined (9).

Another reason property taxes are rising: housing prices have spiked. Home prices rose from about $250,000 to $375,000 in 2026 compared to the beginning of the pandemic, according to Zillow (10).

For property taxes, Florida ranks in the middle of the pack. Its effective property tax rate of 0.79% is better than many states (11). Since new homeowners from out-of-state don’t immediately benefit from property tax caps, the best rates are probably exclusive to local, long-time residents (12). Florida property taxes are capped by the Save Our Homes Amendment (13).

English cited rising property taxes as one of the reasons she left Florida.

“My property taxes were about $3,000 a year,” she said. “Altogether, I was looking at around $10,000 a year just for insurance and taxes.”

Residents migrate to save

Other Floridians are leaving the state to avoid rising bills, too.

Sydney Buckley and her husband, René Barajas Jr., moved from the West Palm Beach area to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2025. The couple told the Wall Street Journal they couldn’t find any houses in Florida within their budget (14). In South Carolina, they found and bought a $350,000 house.

The mortgage payment is only $100 more than they were spending on rent for their apartment in Florida. The couple also said they pay much less property tax and insurance than they would have in Florida.

The couple aren’t the only ones leaving for calmer pastures. In 2024, a whopping 506,246 people moved from Florida to another state. U.S. Census data says top destinations were Georgia (52,371), Texas (52,219), North Carolina (33,591), New York (28,080), and Pennsylvania (25,048) (15).

Why these states? Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina rank as affordable housing markets. U.S. News ranks Florida’s housing affordability at 44 out of 50, slightly behind New York (16).

Invest in real estate without worrying about hidden costs

Purchasing a home — even in a horizontal move — is a huge financial decision. Accounting for property taxes, mortgage payments, insurance premiums and the like can make even a reasonable looking down payment balloon over time. However, real estate is still a core part of both the American dream and developing your equity now, which can help your net worth later.

There are also more and more options to tap into real estate without making a 30-year financial commitment.

Platforms like Arrived have made it easier than ever to invest in residential housing without taking on a mortgage or coming up with a six-figure down payment.

Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived lets you invest in shares of vacation and rental properties across the country with as little as $100.

Even better, Arrived handles the day-to-day work of managing the property and covering expenses throughout the investment’s lifecycle. Any rental income generated is distributed to investors monthly — after expenses are deducted — giving you a chance to build a passive income stream.

What’s more, once you’re an investor with Arrived, you gain quarterly access to their newly launched secondary market, where investors can buy and sell shares of individual rental and vacation rental properties directly on the platform. That way, you can adapt your strategy to a rapidly changing market.

The best part? For a limited time, when you open an account and add $1,000 or more, Arrived will credit your account with a 1% match.

There are plenty of real estate investment opportunities out there, so long as you know where to look, but not all opportunities are created equal. Those with more capital on hand can expand beyond residential real estate and into other verticals.

Accredited investors can now tap into this opportunity through platforms such as Lightstone DIRECT, which gives accredited investors access to single-asset multifamily and industrial deals.

Lightstone DIRECT’s direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

— With files from Cole Tretheway