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Why So Many Americans Move To Florida And Not Georgia
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Mar 31, 2025
Florida and Georgia make up just about 10% of the entire United States' population. But while at one point Georgia was home to many more Americans than Florida, over the last few decades Florida has exploded in growth to become more than twice the size of Georgia! This is more surprising given that Georgia has grown considerably as well. Here's why Florida has grown so much faster than Georgia, and really almost every other state in the country.
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Florida and Georgia are home to almost 10% of all Americans
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But despite these two states being so close to each other geographically, they've developed and grown in wildly different ways
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In 1950, Georgia had 700,000 more Americans than Florida. But today, Florida has 11 million more Americans than Georgia
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Here's why Florida has outpaced Georgia so much over the last few decades
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Hello and welcome to Geography by Jeff. Today we're off to the southeast part of the United States
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to look at an interesting population distribution pattern between the states of Florida and Georgia
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And while Florida is technically farther south than Georgia, it's often said that the farther south you go
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the more north culturally you are. And this has played into some of the reasons
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for why Florida has grown so much faster than Georgia, which is no slouch in the growth department either
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So sign up today. Despite being neighbors today, Florida and Georgia began their respective existences in a very different manner
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While both current states were home to many different and varied indigenous tribes prior to their current incarnations
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the two regions were colonized in two very different ways by two completely separate European countries
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And these origins have directly influenced the makeup of both states even to this day
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Despite so much emphasis within the United States history being placed on Virginia and Massachusetts
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as being the origins of the country, the first European settlements within the current US
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were in Florida. In April of 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon
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landed on the mainland of North America in the general location of the modern city of St Augustine While the landing of Ponce de Leon is real the story that he was searching for the legendary Fountain of Youth is entirely fiction Still his landing did kick off a series of exploratory missions and settlements by both
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Spain and France. As with many colonial efforts in the early years, successful colonies were quite
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rare. In 1559, Spain would establish its first settlement in present-day Pensacola, but would
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abandon it only two years later in 1561. In 1564, the French would establish a fort in present-day
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Duval County, but the Spanish, wanting to lay claim to all of the land, would send a military
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force to destroy it. Then, in 1565, Spain would establish the Settlement of San Augustin, today
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known as St. Augustine. This settlement would become the oldest continuously occupied European
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settlement in the continental United States and would firmly establish Spain as the owner of the
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Florida Peninsula. A little to the north and a few decades later, the colony that would become
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Georgia would start to take shape. Similar to Florida, the first explorers to the region would
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be the Spanish as they continued to search for trade routes and natural resources such as gold
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But despite many explorations into the area, Spain would not create any permanent settlements
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within Georgia. The French would establish a settlement in what would become modern-day
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Charleston, South Carolina, but would also abandon that colony before too long. Instead
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it would be the English who would set their sights onto Georgia. In 1670, England would
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establish the province of Carolina, and English fur traders would often head south in search of
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fertile hunting grounds. Now, despite not having any permanent settlements, Spain did establish a
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number of missions in order to convert the native populations to Christianity. Seeing these missions
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the English knew that it was only a matter of time before Spain moved north from their Florida settlements. As such, in 1704, the English and their allied Native American tribes would begin
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a military campaign to destroy the Spanish mission system in Georgia. This would effectively drive
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the Spanish out of the area and back into Florida. And once the land was cleared of Spanish influence
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it didn't take too much time to establish a new British colony in the area. In 1732
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a charter was given to James Oglethorpe to establish the colony of Georgia, and in 1733
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the city of Savannah was founded near Charlestown, which was just north in the province of Carolina
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From that point on, the two colonies would be run in the culture of their respective European
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owners. Florida would develop and grow with a distinctive Spanish heritage, culture, and
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language, and Georgia would do the same with the English. In 1776, the original 13 colonies of
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England and North America, including Georgia, would rebel and become the United States
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But Florida would remain with Spain until 1821 when, growing tired of constant U.S. incursions
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into its territory and not having the resources to effectively manage or defend it Spain would cede the entire area to the United States From that point on the two would for the first time exist under the same unified government but both would continue to be very distinct from one another
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Florida and Georgia each grew to become very dominant within the United States
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but the way in which they would grow over the decades is very different. But before we get to how Florida and Georgia
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differ in their growth, if you're enjoying this video, hit that subscribe button
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More fun geography videos are just a single click away. The 1900s were a huge period of growth overall for the United States
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A combination of high birth rate, new medicines, and, of course, immigration
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would lead to a booming U.S. population. Ireland alone is estimated to have supplied nearly 4.5 million migrants between 1880 and 1930
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And two world wars in the first half of the century would bring even more migrants to U.S. shores
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While many of these people would begin their American journey in the Northeast states, eventually they would filter to other regions across the country
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This population pattern was particularly notable during the 1950s when a roaring economy
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post-war baby boom, and increase in external migration would lead to a swelling of population
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in almost every single state. But in particular, for Florida. In 1950, Georgia had 3.4 million
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Americans, about 700,000 more people than Florida with 2.7 million. Just 20 years later, however
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Florida had grown to nearly 6.8 million people, about 2.2 million more people than Georgia's 4.6
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million. This is a dramatic leap in population. And while much of this story centers around this
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period of time, it's also worth pointing out that between 1920 and 1930, millions of African
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Americans moved from Georgia, Florida, and other southern states to the north in order to escape
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persecution under southern laws. This had a huge impact on Georgia's population during this period
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Florida, however, while losing much of their black population as well, was also in the midst of a
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real estate boom that saw many more Americans move in. Then, in the 1960s, another geopolitical
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event would propel a huge amount of migrants to Florida specifically, the 1959 Cuban Revolution
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Beginning in 1952, a coordinated effort by Fidel Castro would eventually lead to the toppling of
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Cuban dictator Batista in 1959, and this would lead to hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing
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the country for Florida over a relatively short period of time. This would continue the already
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impressive growth of Florida and give it its unique Cuban heritage that continues to exist today
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largely in the Miami region. While the country is well past its baby boom period and external migration from Cuba and
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other countries has slowed overall, the state of Florida continues its impressive rate of
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growth even to this day. And this is largely on the backs of a couple external factors the economy and the climate It probably no surprise that the sunshine state is very sunny And this has a particular draw amongst almost all people but in particular
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a very specific subset of Americans, the elderly. While most Florida migrants are not elderly
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Florida does receive more elderly migrants than any other state in the country. In particular
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tens of thousands of elderly Americans from the northern states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have moved to Florida just over the last few years
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And this is largely due to this particular population's desire for warmer and more consistent weather
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Hurricane season aside, of course. But elderly people don't make up most of Florida's current migrants
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Instead, it's a mix of younger professionals and families who move to the state in search of jobs
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Florida, with its major cities of Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and others, have seen a growth in jobs over the last few years
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The prospect of a solid economy, combined with the lack of state income tax
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has led to many Americans picking up and moving to the Sunshine State. Between 2019 and 2022, Miami had the largest percentage of inbound moves from other parts
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of the country than any other major metropolitan region. Georgia, for its part, has grown considerably in recent years as well
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Today, Florida and Georgia are both dominant states in terms of population and economy
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Florida is home to over 22 million Americans, and Georgia is home to nearly 11 million
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But over the coming decades, they're expected to continue to grow considerably. But the way in which they're growing is still quite different
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Florida is home to the major metropolitan areas of Miami with 6.1 million people
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Tampa with 3.1 million people, Orlando with 2.7 million people, and Jacksonville with 1.6 million people
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This means that its growth and economy are fairly well spread out across the state
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Georgia, however, really only has the major metropolitan area of Atlanta with about 6 million people
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The rest of the state's metro areas are less than one-tenth the size. This means that Georgia's economy and growth really rely on the city of Atlanta
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whereas Florida is much more dispersed. This isn't to say that Georgia or Atlanta will stop growing
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but when the state has multiple destination centers for potential migration, it gives people more options and that's likely to lead to more migration
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With Georgia, if a potential family doesn't like the Atlanta metro region, there are fewer economically viable cities within the state for them to choose
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Florida and Georgia are both great options for Americans to move to and both offer plenty of economic opportunities
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But a combination of fewer taxes, external migration, and multiple destination centers
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have led Florida to becoming the dominant state of the two. And that's not likely to change anytime soon
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I hope you enjoyed learning more about why Florida has so many more people than Georgia. If you did, please subscribe to my channel
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And if you wanna watch more of my videos, you can do so here. Thanks for watching
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See you next time
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