Not just housing — 86% of Miamians say groceries are a top budget strain

Miami-Dade County admin August 13, 2026 0 Comments

Not just housing — 86% of Miamians say groceries are a top budget strain

Miamians have money on their minds.

Nearly six in 10 Miami-metro-area residents rank the rising cost of living among their biggest barriers to progress, and almost 35% — a sizable plurality — said their top goal for the next year or two is to earn more money, according to a new report from the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility.

The survey asked tens of thousands of Americans, including hundreds from the greater Miami area, how they’re feeling financially. Across the nation, people are concerned with financial stability, earning more money and the rising cost of living, the data shows.

Miamians are no different. The findings track with a spiraling local affordability crisis — particularly for housing, but also for food, transportation and childcare — that’s pushed more and more Miami-area residents toward the financial brink.

Housing costs are highest

South Floridians are about as concerned as anyone in America about the rising cost of living — roughly 60% of respondents across the nation ranked it among their top three obstacles, followed by debt and mental health struggles or stress. But what’s driving those mounting costs depends somewhat on where you live.

In Miami, housing played an outsized role.

Nearly 70% of those Miami-area residents said housing costs were a major strain — more than 10 percentage points above the national average.

It’s the widest gap between Miami and the rest of the country anywhere in the report, and that’s probably no surprise to anyone who’s signed a lease here recently.

In the five years to 2024, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s gauge of a fair-market rent for a two-bedroom in metro Miami went from $1,454 to $2,324, a roughly 60% jump. Over the same period, the median household income grew by only a third.

To comfortably rent that two-bedroom, someone would have to make at least $47 an hour, or $97,000 a year, which is more than triple Florida’s minimum wage.

That gap has forced roughly six in 10 Miami renters to fork over at least 30% of their income to pay for housing. Nearly three in 10 spend at least half their monthly paycheck on rent.

It’s not much better for homeowners. Property values in Miami-Dade are up 60% since 2019, which have pushed property taxes up almost 50%, according to real estate analytics firm Cotality.

And condo association fees have climbed more than 70% since 2016 to a median $617 per month — the highest in the country — research from Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center shows.

What about groceries and gas?

Food was the most common complaint in the survey, but that’s not unique to Miami. About 86% of cost-strained Miamians named groceries and food in their top budget strains, just under the 88% nationwide.

Restaurant prices ballooned by nearly a third between 2020 and 2025, and groceries by about a quarter over the same stretch, according to USDA data.

And half of Miami respondents listed transportation as a top line item — roughly in line with the national average. Greater Miami ties Houston for the highest transportation spending of the 10 biggest U.S. metros, roughly $14,400 a year per household.

Taken together, those costs are stretching Miamians’ budgets. Just 31% of locals feel it’s easier to make ends meet today than it was last year, and just under half think their financial situations will improve significantly in the next five years, the McKinsey survey shows.

Meanwhile, more than a half-million Miami-Dade households — 56% of the county’s total — are living paycheck to paycheck.

This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.