After a recent report showed Sarasota apartment vacancies rising and rents falling, new driver's license data suggests thousands of people are still moving to Sarasota County.
More than 6,600 people transferred driver's licenses from other states to Sarasota County between January and June, according to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. That ranked Sarasota County 11th statewide for incoming residents, while neighboring Manatee County attracted nearly 5,850 newcomers and ranked 13th.
Together, the two counties attracted more than 12,500 newcomers during the first six months of 2026.
The numbers suggest the Sarasota-Bradenton region remains one of Florida's most popular destinations for people relocating from
around the country, even as higher home prices, rising insurance costs and concerns about growth have fueled debate about whether fewer people are moving to the Sunshine State.
Statewide, more than 200,000 people exchanged out-of-state driver's licenses for Florida licenses during the first six months of 2026, the highest first-half total since 2023. The data offers one of the clearest near real-time snapshots of migration patterns and indicates Florida continues to attract new residents, particularly in coastal and metropolitan counties.
Where are Florida's newcomers coming from?
More than 200,000 people from other states switched driver's licenses to Florida in the first half of 2026, the most since 2023, according to state Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles data.
"We transferred our drivers licenses to Florida the day after we moved here," said Jim Crosby who moved to Daytona Beach from Los Angeles with his wife, Cyndee, in January.
Asked why, the couple listed the weather, the Sunshine State's friendly people and its relatively "lower cost of living, the lower cost of housing (compared to Southern California), the tax structure, the culture and the politics."
DMV data provides 'near real-time' look at population migration trends
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) data does not include how many people switched drivers licenses from Florida to other states, nor does it show how many moved to Florida who don't drive, such as children, or how many newcomers are from other countries.
The data nevertheless is useful, according to Brad O'Connor, chief economist for the Florida Realtors association. The reasons: it's both proof that large numbers of people are still choosing to move to Florida, and also telling in terms of what states they are relocating from and where in the Sunshine State they are choosing to live.
"It is not as comprehensive as let's say what the Census Bureau might put out, but the reason why we use this is because it's in near real-time," said O'Connor, referring to the DMV data compared with numbers put out by the U.S. Census Bureau.
"We're going to be waiting at least a year and a half to two years before we're going to see Census or (Internal Revenue Service) data that is comparable. So for us, this is very valuable and it's tracked well with the migration data from those other sources."
What states have the most people moving to Florida?
According to DMV data obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA from the Florida Realtors association, the five states with the largest number of people switching their drivers licenses to Florida in the first half of 2026 were as follows:
- New York (23,436)
- Georgia (12,699)
- New Jersey (11,831)
- California (11,076)
- Texas (11,032)
What are the top counties newcomers are moving to in Florida?
The counties with the largest number of people switching their drivers licenses to Florida from other states in the first half of 2026, according to DMV data, were as follows:
- Miami-Dade (13,206)
- Palm Beach (12,794)
- Hillsborough (12,087)
- Orange (11,202)
- Broward (10,665)
- Lee (10,203)
- Duval (8,650)
- Pinellas (8,590)
- Polk (6,840)
- Brevard (6,790)
- Sarasota (6,686)
- Pasco (5,882)
- Manatee (5,848)
- Volusia (5,105)
- Collier (5,102)
- Osceola (5,006)
- Marion (4,875)
- Sumter (4,720)
- Escambia (4,421)
- St. Johns (4,343)
- Lake (3,954)
- Charlotte (3,903)
- Okaloosa (3,756)
- Bay (3,410)
- St. Lucie (3,163)
How do recent move-to-Florida numbers compare to COVID boom years?
The number of people transferring drivers licenses to Florida from other states this year is up from 2025 and 2024, but still down significantly from the COVID housing boom years. During that period, which began in late 2020 and ran through 2022, Florida saw an unusual spike in newcomers.
The boom was fueled by a combination of people fleeing states such as New York and California where pandemic restrictions were more strict and the increase in people working remotely from home regardless of where their companies were located. It also coincided with record low interest rates for new mortgage loans, which fell below 3% for 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans in July 2020 and remained under that mark for 18 months.
The number of people switching their drivers licenses to Florida from other states rose to 215,412 in the first half of 2021, up from 132,092 in the first six months of 2020. The number climbed even higher to 243,421 in the first half of 2022, according to DMV data.
The number of people transferring drivers licenses to Florida from other states dipped to 212,687 in the first half of 2023, but it was still well above pre-COVID levels. The number in the first half of 2019 was 173,047, while the number in the first half of 2018 was 171,423.
The uptick in people transferring drivers licenses to Florida from other states so far this year, compared to the previous two years, "goes against the narrative by the doom and gloomers that everybody's leaving Florida," said Brenden Rendo, a Realtor with NextHome Neighborhood Realty in Winter Springs. Rendo co-hosts a weekly podcast called "Orlando Real Estate Buzz."
Rendo said he was not surprised that Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties drew the most newcomers in the first six months of 2026.
"If you look at the corporate growth, that's where they're going, especially the financial industry," said Rendo who noted that Palm Beach County in particular has been nicknamed "Wall Street South" because of the increase in major financial institutions opening offices there, including Citadel, Blackrock and Goldman Sachs.
Miami-Dade in the meantime has become a magnet for technology firms including the controversial artificial intelligence data giant Palantir, which moved its corporate headquarters there from Denver earlier this year. Palantir does work for the U.S. military as well as U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
California transplants are encouraging friends to move to Florida
Jim Crosby was an information technology worker based in Los Angeles who frequently traveled to Florida to do work for clients including Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. His wife, Cyndee, worked in construction management.
When the couple decided to retire, they considered several places in the country to spend their golden years, including South Carolina and other parts of Florida, before choosing Daytona Beach where they now own a "villa" duplex unit in the Jimmy Buffett-themed Latitude Margaritaville "55 and better" community.
While rising housing costs in Florida have been an increasing concern for some, the Crosbys said prices remain a bargain compared to Southern California.
"We sold our house in L.A. for over twice as much as what our villa at Latitude Margaritaville cost," Jim Crosby said.
Cyndee Crosby said she and her husband have fully embraced living in Florida, where she said locals have been more welcoming than in Southern California. "We’re very pleased with everybody, how friendly they are and kind and generous and polite," she said.
Added Jim: "We’re so happy we convinced a friend from L.A. to move out here as well. He moves in next week on the same street as us, two blocks over."
Wade Tatangelo is the executive editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Florida dining and entertainment editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and X. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
Clayton Park is a journalist for the USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA. He covers everything from insurance, utilities and home prices to groceries, gas and auto prices as the Florida consumer pocketbook reporter. If you have news tips, please send them to cpark@usatodayco.com. You can get all of Florida's best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at news-journalonline.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Are people still moving to Sarasota? New data may surprise you
