New York lost nearly 5,000 businesses in a single year.
Florida just swept the top five spots on WalletHub's national business rankings – and California's billionaires are buying Florida property within seven days of Newsom's latest tax threat.
WalletHub ranked 100 of America's largest cities for entrepreneurship and Florida didn't just win – it took the top five spots.
The State Democrats Said Would Fail Just Swept the Entire Top Five
Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Hialeah, and St. Petersburg – all Florida – are WalletHub's top five large cities to start a business in America.
Six Florida cities total made the Top 10.
The only other states that cracked the top 10 were North Carolina and Oklahoma – both red states.
Washington, D.C. – where Democrats have spent decades managing the federal bureaucracy – ranked dead last.
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo explained Tampa's No. 1 finish this way: low corporate taxes mean businesses keep more of their own money, investors per capita are among the highest in the country, and startups in the city survive and thrive at a rate most cities can't match.
Jacksonville earned the highest Entrepreneurial Activity Index score in the entire country.
Orlando's small business count is growing faster than almost anywhere else in America, and its Kauffman Early-Stage Entrepreneurship Index ranking confirms what the numbers already show – businesses that open there stay open.
What Gavin Newsom Built While Florida Was Winning
While Florida was stacking business rankings, California was watching its economy bleed out.
California lost 1.2 million residents to interstate migration in just over three years, taking $102 billion in adjusted gross income with them.
The Tax Foundation ranked California's business tax climate 49th in the nation – just above the bottom.
Florida sits at the other end of the spectrum: no personal income tax, a 5.5% corporate rate that's among the lowest anywhere, and a regulatory environment that actually lets companies get permits and open their doors.
When California's Governor Gavin Newsom floated a proposed 5% wealth tax on assets over $1 billion, California billionaires started purchasing Florida properties within seven days.
Dozens of them.
The Heritage Foundation documented the pattern: two million more Americans left California and New York than moved into those states between 2020 and 2023 alone.
Florida gained 820,000 net new residents from domestic migration during that same period – more than any other state.
Florida Captured 341 of the 892 Companies New York Lost
Businesses vote with their checkbooks.
IRS data shows Florida captured 341 of the 892 companies that fled New York between 2020 and 2024 – more than any other state.
That's not just hedge funds and Wall Street firms – it's the plumber who moved his three-man operation south, the restaurant owner who looked at New York's regulations and bought a building in Tampa instead, the contractor who built something real in a state that let him keep what he earned.
Wells Fargo, Apollo Global Management, and Elliott Management have all relocated significant operations to Florida.
Palm Beach County has branded itself "Wall Street South" – and the name has stuck, with more than 250 fintech companies already operating there.
Vanderbilt University is building a new business school in West Palm Beach because the financial talent demand from relocated firms has outpaced the supply.
This isn't a coincidence.
It's what happens when one state builds a system where entrepreneurs keep what they earn and another state treats successful people like a revenue source.
Florida led the nation in corporate relocations in 2023 and added more than 250,000 new businesses in 2024 alone.
One in five startups doesn't survive its first year – that's the national average.
The lesson isn't complicated: cut taxes, reduce regulations, and get the government out of the way.
Entrepreneurs and investors will do the rest – and they'll build something that makes WalletHub's top-five list look like just the beginning.
Sources:
- WalletHub, "Best Large Cities to Start a Business (2026)," WalletHub, April 2026.
- Heritage Foundation, "If You Tax Them, They Will Run," Heritage Foundation, 2024.
- IBTimes, "10 Reasons Big Companies Are Leaving New York in 2026," IBTimes, April 2026.
- Fox News, "Dozens of California Billionaires Flee to Florida Over Proposed Wealth Tax," Fox News, March 2026.
- Florida Trend, "State on the Rise," Florida Trend, December 2024.
