Philly Is The No. 1 Destination For New Yorkers Fleeing The Big Apple

For decades, New York City has been exporting its teeming masses to far-flung Sun Belt boomtowns. But these days, residents plotting their escape from the Big Apple are looking closer to home.

The Philadelphia region is now the No. 1 destination for New Yorkers on the move, according to a StreetEasy report based on Zillow search data.

Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Philly is just $1,530, while a similar apartment in New York City would go for $4,280, according to a Zumper report published last month.

There’s also a massive delta when it comes to single-family homes. The median sale price is $382.7K in Philly, up 3.4% year-over-year, Redfin reported. Those metrics jump to $850K and 6.3% in New York City.

The City of Brotherly Love knocked last year’s leader, Miami, down to No. 2. Florida remains a top destination for New Yorkers: Tampa came in at No. 5 and Orlando No. 7.

StreetEasy also found that metro New York is the No. 1 destination for Philadelphians planning a move out of town.

New York and Philly have always had strong ties, but the southbound pipeline got a big boost from the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of these transplants ended up in Center City, which has easy access to bus and train routes between Philly and New York.

Fifteen percent of all out-of-staters who moved to the neighborhood between 2021 and 2023 came from New York, according to a Center City District report released last year. That was more than any other state. Runner-up Florida accounted for just 6% of new residents in the neighborhood.

Despite the strong demand from an expensive nearby market, one-bedroom rents in Philly only grew by 1.3% last year, according to a report from Zumper.

The city is still working through a glut of new units after developers expedited multifamily projects to capitalize on a tax abatement program that expired in 2021.

Apartment searches are more intense in the Philly suburbs, which RentCafe dubbed the eighth-most competitive rental market in the nation last year.

Nearly 95% of rentals in the collar counties are occupied, and there are 10 prospective tenants for every available unit.