Why California's billionaires are dreaming of going to Miami
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They're California dreaming of going to Miami.
A proposed California wealth tax on billionaires has some of the state's wealthiest residents looking at real estate in South Florida, BI's Jordan Pandy and Madeline Berg write.
I know what you're thinking: Rich people moving to Florida for tax reasons? What a concept!
But this isn't about the retired doctor you know settling down in Boca or Palm Beach. These people have three-comma net worths and are looking for nine-figure homes.
Larry Page recently spent more than $180 million on three properties, and Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin are also reportedly looking.
That's led to a massive spike in purchases of these ultramansions. In 2018, one single-family home sold for more than $30 million in Miami-Dade County. In 2025, that figure jumped to 19.
With its many islands and inlets, Miami also offers plenty of unique neighborhoods suitable for the ultra-rich. Madeline and Jordy mapped out all the areas billionaires are eyeing. That includes the uber-exclusive Indian Creek, which is also known as … Billionaire Bunker.
"Miami is the new BLANK" is practically a meme at this point.
From Wall Street to crypto to tech, the city has toyed with becoming the new hub for various industries over the years. Some companies have actually moved their headquarters to the region, most notably Citadel, and, more recently, Palantir. But often the hype passes quickly, leaving little trace it was ever there at all — like one of the region's sudden thunderstorms.
But maybe that was Miami's issue all along. Instead of becoming the new iteration of something else, it should just focus on its own thing. Miami has plenty of characteristics that make it unique in its own right, and an influx of billionaires only makes it more interesting. If nothing else, we'll likely get some drama. When you bring together a bunch of super-rich people who aren't used to being told no, someone is bound to get upset.