Miamians are getting completely priced out and are flocking in droves to other Florida cities, the first time since at least 1970 the Miami population has declined, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Home prices in Miami have spiked by 53% since June 2020, and rents have soared by 27% since 2019, according to Zillow and CoStar data. Given the fact that the Miami-Dade County population shrank between 2019 and 2022, the double-digit increase in housing costs could even have been steeper.

Nearly two-thirds, 61%, of Miami renters spend 30% or more of their income to keep the roof over their head.

The decline in Miami's population is ironic, given the fact that Florida attracted more people in 2021 and 2022 than any other U.S. state.

Another eye-opening indication of how high the cost of living has become in Miami is that people making $150,000 are struggling to get by.

Jose Perez, a Miami real estate broker, says he has lost half of his clients making $70,000 to $150,000 a year—because they are living paycheck to paycheck.

Another key indicator of how difficult life has become is Miami metro area inflation clocked in at 6.9% in June, while nationally, the figure dipped to 3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Paired with the fact that the hourly wage in Miami is slightly below the national average and a far cry from what people earn in New York and San Francisco, it is no wonder Miamians of all ages and stripes are running for the exits.

“It’s the middle class. It’s our talent base. It’s our college graduates moving out for better opportunities elsewhere,” says Maria Ilcheva, census information center lead at Florida International University.

Although Miami is attracting new companies and construction is booming, that’s a double-edged sword; the more affluent its white-collar class becomes, the higher the prices continue to escalate, economists say.

On top of this, Miami is plagued by unbearable traffic due to limited public transit; data company INRIX says traffic jams soared 59% between 2021 and 2022.

Stories of people doubling up on housing with relatives, commuting hours from nearby cities or making other tradeoffs abound. Natalie Pena, who moved with her husband from Miami to Ocala, says her husband commutes 4-1/2 hours to Miami on Wednesdays to work as a barber through Friday.

Other places Miamians are moving to for much cheaper housing include Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Atlanta.

The fear, though, is that if the exodus of the people who make Magic City the rich cultural place that it is, keeps on, Miami will become just another nondescript urban center.

“The people who built this city cannot afford to live in their own homes that they spent their entire lives in,” says Billy Corben, a local resident and documentarian of Miami urban development.

“Once those people are gone, then what is Miami?” Corben adds. “What is left of this place?”