Move aside, Wall Street: Miami is vying to be the new epicenter of US business, tech, and wealth.
And it’s getting there. A recent Bloomberg report found that the cost of living in the Miami metropolitan area has surpassed that of New York City, making it the country’s second-most expensive major metro area, behind the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Miami metro area, which had long offered a tropical lifestyle with cheaper costs of living than the Big Apple, has seen a sharp rise in its consumer prices since 2019, while homeownership and other costs have helped push up its cost of living, per Bloomberg, which cited the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ latest data.
Those rising costs include tuition, goods, and services. Home-insurance premiums, the most expensive in the country, have also increased amid higher home values and the region’s risk of severe weather.
Still, finance firms, tech companies, and consumer brands have expanded their presence in the city, from opening new offices to relocating headquarters — and their executives have joined the wave.
It comes as California is weighing a proposed billionaire tax, and New York City has adopted a new tax on non-primary residences over $5 million.
Beyond the tax benefits, Miami is attracting wealthy individuals for its lifestyle.
“You can’t beat the lifestyle,” Manny Varas, a luxury homebuilder who works with billionaire clients in South Florida, told Business Insider.
Varas, who has built and renovated homes for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Lil Wayne, and the Bezos family, said that the city’s “pro-work and creative environment,” as well as its culinary, hospitality, arts, and events scene, are among the biggest drivers of billionaires’ decisions to move to Miami over other tax-friendly states.
Some of these leaders have officially announced they or their companies are moving to the Sunshine State, while others have quietly snapped up property in the city in recent months, signaling a potential expansion of their presence there.
While some have cited business interests, others have publicly shared factors such as family proximity and Miami’s culture.
Here are some of the most notable people and companies that have recently relocated or bought up property in Miami as the cost of living in the city continues to rise to unprecedented levels.
Ken Griffin
Leading Miami’s billionaire migration is Ken Griffin. In June 2022, Citadel and Citadel Securities announced they would move their global headquarters from Chicago to Miami.
In April 2022, an entity tied to Citadel paid a then-record $363 million for a waterfront Brickell office development site.
Citadel now lists Miami as its global headquarters, and its new Brickell location is expected to have 1.2 million square feet of office space, according to its plans.
Meanwhile, Griffin purchased the $107 million, 4-acre Adrienne Arsht Estate in Coconut Grove in 2022, setting a Miami-Dade record at the time and becoming the first nine-figure home sale in the county’s history.
While Citadel’s permanent Brickell tower is still in development, Griffin has been one of the biggest figures betting on Miami as the next center of US commerce.
The company told Business Insider that the city was home to about 400 Citadel-affiliated employees, including some senior executives.
Jeff Bezos
In 2023, the Amazon founder announced via an Instagram post that he was leaving Seattle for Miami.
That fall, Bezos bought neighboring mansions in Miami’s Indian Creek Island for $79 million and $68 million, in what was one of the highest-profile moves in Miami’s billionaire era.
Bezos cited Blue Origin’s operations in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and his parents’ relocation back to the city as reasons for his return to Miami, where he attended high school.
Peter Thiel
On December 31, 2025, Thiel Capital — Peter Thiel’s private investment firm — announced that it had opened a Wynwood office, saying the space would complement its Los Angeles operations.
The firm also said Thiel has maintained a personal residence in Miami since 2020, when he purchased an $18 million mansion in Miami’s Venetian Islands.
In 2024, Thiel moved his voter registration to Florida, further formalizing his move to the state.
Michael Ferro
In March 2025, Michael Ferro Jr., chairman of the private equity firm Merrick Ventures, bought a 2.5-acre estate on Star Island for $120 million, setting what was then a record for a home sale in Miami-Dade County.
He also moved Merrick Ventures to Florida. The investment firm Ferro, founded in 2007 and previously based in Chicago, is now described on its website as a Florida-based private equity company focused on technology.
FC Barcelona
Along with Miami’s influx of billionaires, the city has also become the American capital of soccer, with international figures like Lionel Messi and David Beckham investing in the sport’s presence there.
In April 2025, FC Barcelona announced it would relocate its North American division’s commercial offices from New York to Miami’s One Biscayne Tower after receiving an incentive grant from the Miami Downtown Development Authority, an autonomous city agency focused on economic and business development.
Galderma
Galderma, the parent company behind brands like Cetaphil and Differin, announced in June 2025 that it would establish its new US headquarters in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. The company said it expects roughly 150 employees to be based there by 2028.
The skincare company cited the concentration of med spas and dermatology clinics in the Miami metro area, the rapid growth of aesthetic procedures in the region, and the size of the Miami Health District as drivers behind the move.
Playboy
In August 2025, Playboy announced it would relocate its global headquarters from Los Angeles to Miami Beach. At the same time, it announced plans for a new Playboy Club in Miami Beach and new content studios in the city.
The company hopes to open its offices by September 2026.
“Miami Beach is among the most dynamic and culturally influential cities in the country, making it the ideal home for Playboy’s next chapter,” Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Inc., said in the statement.
MSC Cruises
In January, MSC Group’s cruise division opened its new North American headquarters in downtown Miami.
The 130,000-square-foot office, located near PortMiami, is a roughly $100 million investment that will house more than 400 employees across MSC entities under one roof, MSC said in its announcement.
Palantir
In February, Palantir announced it had moved its headquarters to the Miami area.
Regulatory filings placed the company’s principal executive office at 19505 Biscayne Boulevard in Aventura, about 17 miles north of downtown Miami.
The address, which is also home to an Industrious coworking space, is located across from the sprawling Aventura Mall and sits above a Sweetgreen, a Starbucks, and a Lego store.
Months before, CEO Alex Karp quietly bought a $46 million mansion in Miami’s Venetian Islands. In April 2026, he also reportedly purchased an adjacent property for $28.5 million.
Howard Schultz
In March, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in a LinkedIn post that he and his wife were leaving Seattle for Florida after more than four decades in the city. He wrote that they had moved to Miami for their “next adventure together.”
The announcement followed Schultz’s purchase of a $44 million penthouse at the Four Seasons Private Residences, a waterfront residential tower in Surfside.
The executive, who had long-established ties in Seattle — the city where the coffee chain was founded — is one of the newest neighbors in Miami’s high-profile circles.
Mark Zuckerberg
While the social media tycoon has not formally announced a relocation to Miami, Mark Zuckerberg made Miami history in March when he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, purchased a $170 million property on the appropriately nicknamed “Billionaire’s Bunker,” Indian Creek Island — the most expensive home sale in Miami-Dade County’s history.
The still-under-construction property spans about 2 acres on the exclusive island, where Zuckerberg will be neighbors with Jeff Bezos, Ivanka Trump, and other notable figures.
Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have both made major moves into South Florida’s luxury real-estate market in recent months.
Page, who had long been based in Palo Alto, California, spent roughly $173.4 million on two Coconut Grove properties, including a 4.5-acre waterfront compound on Biscayne Bay, in December and January. By July, reports indicated that he’d spent a total of about $188 million on Miami-area property.
In March, Brin, who has also been a longtime California resident based in the Bay Area, purchased the former Allison Island home of LVMH CEO Michael Burke for $51 million. Brin had also been linked to two earlier Miami-area home purchases totaling approximately $92 million.
Editor’s note: This story was first published in April 2026 and most recently updated in July 2026.
