The former “Real Housewives of New York City” star Bethenny Frankel built her public persona in the Big Apple, but after moving to Florida in 2025, she says the Sunshine State is the new cultural hub for America’s rich and famous.
“Miami is the new LA,” Frankel, 55, told Business Insider. “In the way that LA was the cool place to be, and aspirational people wanted to be there.”
Last March, the reality TV veteran, entrepreneur, and social media influencer joined a wave of New Yorkers relocating to South Florida, settling on the coast with her teenage daughter.
She’s one of many Americans leaving cultural hubs like New York and Los Angeles for smaller cities in the Sun Belt. A January 2026 Bank of America Institute study on US migration found that New York recorded the second-largest population loss of any US city in the fourth quarter of 2025, after Los Angeles. About 45% of outbound New Yorkers headed southward, with Miami alone accounting for 7% of departures.
“It’s also cool to be in New York,” Frankel said, “but not as much as being in Miami, and Florida in general.”
Miami has the most million-dollar property listings in the US
Among the Florida arrivals is a number of billionaires. Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Glenview Capital Management’s CEO, Larry Robbins, have all relocated from northern cities to Florida’s warmer shores in the past four years.
“Rich people are moving down here,” said Frankel, who runs the private membership dating community The Core. “Miami’s exploded, real-estate-wise.”
Data backs that up. Realtor.com’s December 2025 Luxury Housing Report found that the Miami metro area had the highest number of million-dollar listings in the country, snatching a title that had traditionally been held by New York. More than a quarter of demand in the Miami metro region originated from the New York metro area, the report found.
Frankel said the influx of new wealth has changed Miami’s cultural landscape. “It means shopping, art, nightlife, the real-estate cool factor,” she said. “Everybody went where the money is. The money is dictating what’s happening on social media, and what’s happening that’s cool.”
“Florida is on fire”
Business Insider’s Lucia Moses reported in December that Miami is emerging as a hub for social media influencers. It had the highest number of top Instagram creators per capita of any US city, ahead of New York and LA.
Florida’s draw in recent years, however, has extended beyond just billionaires and social-media influencers. Business Insider previously reported that differences in tax policy and cost of living meant that someone earning $150,000 a year could save roughly $50,000 annually by moving from New York City to Miami, largely due to Florida’s lack of state income tax.
For Frankel, the move offered more than that. She said it has made her “more social” and allowed her to run her businesses from the “sunniest and most beautiful-weathered place.”
While Florida has drawn in large numbers of domestic migrants since the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Miami has begun to hemorrhage residents. The Bank of America Institute study found that Miami recorded the third-largest domestic population decline among US cities in the fourth quarter of 2025, with many residents relocating to more affordable parts of Florida, including Orlando and Tampa.
In Frankel’s views, the whole state is having a moment. “Delray, Palm Beach, Boca, Miami, the Design District,” she said. “Florida is on fire.”
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