Miami is now the second-most expensive metro area in the US. These CEOs are fueling its billionaire boom.

Starbucks' former CEO Howard Schultz and Jeff Bezos have recently relocated to Miami, while figures like Mark Zuckerberg have recently purchased property in the city. Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images/Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for America Business Forum/Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Miami was recently ranked as the US metro area with the second-highest cost of living.

Tax proposals in California and New York are pushing billionaires to Florida.

Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin have all recently purchased homes in the city.

Move aside, Wall Street : Miami is vying to be the new epicenter of US business, tech, and wealth.

And it's getting there. A recent Bloomberg report found that the cost of living in the Miami metropolitan area has surpassed that of New York City, making it the country's second-most expensive major metro area, behind the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Miami metro area, which had long offered a tropical lifestyle with cheaper costs of living than the Big Apple, has seen a sharp rise in its consumer prices since 2019, while homeownership and other costs have helped push up its cost of living, per Bloomberg, which cited the US Bureau of Economic Analysis' latest data.

Those rising costs include tuition , goods, and services. Home-insurance premiums, the most expensive in the country, have also increased amid higher home values and the region's risk of severe weather.

Still, finance firms, tech companies, and consumer brands have expanded their presence in the city, from opening new offices to relocating headquarters — and their executives have joined the wave.

It comes as California is weighing a proposed billionaire tax, and New York City has adopted a new tax on non-primary residences over $5 million.

Beyond the tax benefits, Miami is attracting wealthy individuals for its lifestyle.

"You can't beat the lifestyle," Manny Varas, a luxury homebuilder who works with billionaire clients in South Florida, told Business Insider.

Varas, who has built and renovated homes for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Lil Wayne, and the Bezos family, said that the city's "pro-work and creative environment," as well as its culinary, hospitality, arts, and events scene, are among the biggest drivers of billionaires' decisions to move to Miami over other tax-friendly states .

Some of these leaders have officially announced they or their companies are moving to the Sunshine State, while others have quietly snapped up property in the city in recent months, signaling a potential expansion of their presence there.

While some have cited business interests, others have publicly shared factors such as family proximity and Miami's culture.

Here are some of the most notable people and companies that have recently relocated or bought up property in Miami as the cost of living in the city continues to rise to unprecedented levels.

Ken Griffin

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Leading Miami's billionaire migration is Ken Griffin. In June 2022, Citadel and Citadel Securities announced they would move their global headquarters from Chicago to Miami.

In April 2022, an entity tied to Citadel paid a then-record $363 million for a waterfront Brickell office development site.

Citadel now lists Miami as its global headquarters, and its new Brickell location is expected to have 1.2 million square feet of office space, according to its plans.

Meanwhile, Griffin purchased the $107 million, 4-acre Adrienne Arsht Estate in Coconut Grove in 2022, setting a Miami-Dade record at the time and becoming the first nine-figure home sale in the county's history.

While Citadel's permanent Brickell tower is still in development, Griffin has been one of the biggest figures betting on Miami as the next center of US commerce.

The company told Business Insider that the city was home to about 400 Citadel-affiliated employees , including some senior executives.

Jeff Bezos

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In 2023, the Amazon founder announced via an Instagram post that he was leaving Seattle for Miami.

That fall, Bezos bought neighboring mansions in Miami's Indian Creek Island for $79 million and $68 million, in what was one of the highest-profile moves in Miami's billionaire era.

Bezos cited Blue Origin's operations in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and his parents' relocation back to the city as reasons for his return to Miami, where he attended high school.

Peter Thiel

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On December 31, 2025, Thiel Capital — Peter Thiel's private investment firm — announced that it had opened a Wynwood office , saying the space would complement its Los Angeles operations.

The firm also said Thiel has maintained a personal residence in Miami since 2020, when he purchased an $18 million mansion in Miami's Venetian Islands.

In 2024, Thiel moved his voter registration to Florida, further formalizing his move to the state.

Michael Ferro

Bloomberg/Getty Images

In March 2025, Michael Ferro Jr., chairman of the private equity firm Merrick Ventures, bought a 2.5-acre estate on Star Island for $120 million, setting what was then a record for a home sale in Miami-Dade County.

He also moved Merrick Ventures to Florida. The investment firm Ferro, founded in 2007 and previously based in Chicago, is now described on its website as a Florida-based private equity company focused on technology.

FC Barcelona

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Along with Miami's influx of billionaires, the city has also become the American capital of soccer, with international figures like Lionel Messi and David Beckham investing in the sport's presence there.

In April 2025,  FC Barcelona  announced it would relocate its North American division's commercial offices from New York to Miami's One Biscayne Tower after receiving an incentive grant from the Miami Downtown Development Authority, an autonomous city agency focused on economic and business development.

Galderma

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