Orlando/ Kissimmee/ Sanford metropolitan area
- 2023 Population: 2,817,933
- Population Growth (2022-2023): 2.1%
- Average home price: $384,720
- Median rent: $1,509
- Average salary: $57,960
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zillow
No place in Florida is adding more people than Orlando.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford metropolitan area added 54,916 new residents between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023. That ranked it fourth in the nation and first in Florida in terms of the sheer number of people moving in. It beat out Tampa/ St. Petersburg/Clearwater, which was fifth in the nation, and Miami/Fort Lauderdale/ West Palm Beach, which was 10th in the nation.
And the previous year, the Orlando/ Kissimmee/Sanford area added a whopping 64,057 residents — again, the highest total in Florida.
That’s nearly 120,000 more human beings crowding into the Orlando area in just two years. That has sparked significant growth in the health care, logistics and distribution industries — but especially in the business and professional services sector, which now rivals tourism and hospitality in terms of size in Central Florida, says Tim Giuliani, president and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership. “We’ve dug into this to try to understand, where are these people coming from? Who are they? And the shocking thing was that 40% of them are coming from another country. We’re seeing a lot of Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil. The other thing we’ve learned is that they are younger, obviously more diverse and more educated than the existing population numbers in Orlando. It’s adding tremendously to our labor force.”
The influx of newcomers and the law of supply and demand have driven up home prices, says Rose Kemp, president of the Orlando Regional Realtors Association. “When you look at those that are moving here from New York and California, we’re a deal to them, we’re a bargain,” Kemp says. “When you mention any sector of the Orlando region, if you push out east, west, north or south, where there’s land to build on, builders are building, and that’s helping us with the supply of homes for all of these relocations.”
The growth is sprawling. To the west in Lake County, small towns along Florida’s Turnpike like Groveland and Minneola have doubled in size in a decade as they become exurbs of Orlando. To the south in Kissimmee, population growth is bringing more opportunities, banks and restaurants — but also more traffic, says John Newstreet, president and CEO of the Osceola Chamber.
Newstreet says: “When we have new members come to the chamber for orientation, I always say, ‘You may have to sit at a traffic light for an extra cycle, but just think about that: you’re already in a place where there’s more new money coming in, and there’s dollars in their pockets. So if you can endure that traffic, there’s also opportunity that can translate to your cash register.’”