A new study published by Remitly has ranked Miami as the second most desirable city to move to. The global results placed Miami right above Paris and New York City and above the likes of Madrid, London, and Brussels. The only city above Miami in the listing was Dubai in the UAE.
The data, which Remitly states is correct as of October 2023, was based on the number of Google searches for the phrase “Move to [city],” which was entered from 164 subject countries. The cities were then ranked by how many countries searched for a specific city the most. According to this data, Miami was the city of choice for twelve different countries. These countries include Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belize, Chile, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Puerto Rico, Tajikistan, and the Virgin Islands.
Paris was the go-to city for ten countries, and New York for only eight. The number one city, Dubai, was the choice of a staggering sixty different countries. In a similar study of the destination cities chosen by U.S. states, Dubai was the choice of the population of 37 states. Dubai was, in fact, the top choice for Europeans, South Americans, Africans, Asians, and Oceanic populations. This places Dubai as the most desired location of nearly every researched demographic worldwide.
The results of Remitly’s research can be seen playing out in reality, reporting that Dubai’s population rose by almost 100,000 between 2022 and 2023. The top choices of cities for UAE residents to move to were Singapore and Miami.
The city of Miami did not receive the same popularity in Remitly’s survey of U.S. states. When it comes to the cities inside of the U.S. that state residents most wanted to move to, the top picks went to New York City, Portland, and Chicago.
Miami has long been a top destination for migration inside the U.S., however, particularly from locations with higher taxes and costs of living. For U.S. citizens looking to retire, Miami’s fair weather and tourist culture combine well with the ability to stretch money further.
The city is also a top destination for immigration from outside the U.S. More than twenty percent of Florida’s population is foreign-born, and more than ten percent of its population are U.S.-born citizens with a foreign-born parent, as reported by the American Immigration Council. This may be part of the formula that makes Miami attractive to U.S. citizens; however, Miami’s robust healthcare industry is backed by immigrant specialists. Inside Miami, more than a quarter of nurses and nearly half of health aides are foreign-born, according to the American Immigration Council.
This global study provides an interesting contrast to Remitly‘s previous study, which focused on which countries were the most searched-for destinations for people looking to relocate internationally. In that 2020 study, the most popular country by a significant margin was Canada, chosen by thirty countries. This was followed distantly by Japan, chosen by thirteen countries, and Spain, chosen by twelve. The U.S. barely made the top ten in that study, ranked ninth, with only two countries choosing it as the most popular destination.
