9 Reasons People Are Heading To Miami After Graduation

For one reason or another, Miami City is the Land of Milk and Honey for many a Millennial out there (it’s either Miami or Los Angeles—if they can live in a Hollywood studio lot they would).

What is it about the beachside city filled with celebrities, VIPs, the richest of the rich, palm trees, and golden sun that draws Millennials to it? Actually, that’s a rhetorical question. However, some Baby Boomers out there might be wondering why a whole generation of young people wants to migrate there even though it’s not realistic or practical more often than not.

As such, here are the 10 (specific) reasons why Millennials are heading to Miami after graduation that has nothing to do with one final Spring Break or road trip vacation.

1. World-class beaches

It’s now time to state the obvious. Rather than flock to Wall Street in New York City or the financial centers of Washington D.C., the newest generation would instead go straight to paradise itself. Usually, Wall Street big wigs have to wait until their first million before buying property in Miami.

As for Millennials, they’re tired of the lukewarm job market and wish to risk it all or end up in the food industry in one of the nicer places in the United States (where they can get to sunbathe and bike along Ocean Drive for free). They’d rather serve Sloppy Joes to tourists than serve as an unpaid intern to a conglomerate or do work at a local fast food.

2. Amazing food

Speaking of the food industry, you don’t need to go to the most expensive restaurants in Miami in order to get your fill of the most delicious food. Here in this multicultural melting pot, you can avail of the most scrumptious Latin American cuisine every night of the week!

Instead of going to a Starbucks to pay for overpriced lattes and cappuccinos, why not drink cup after cup of Cuban coffee? You can also avail of various Cuban cocktails and the Cuban dishes outside of Havana. There’s also cuisine from all over Latin America and the Caribbean, such as various versions of empanadas from Puerto Rico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia.

3. Party central

What youth generation in the history of forever has never wanted to party hard? In the 1960s and 1970s it was Woodstock and disco. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was dance clubs and techno raves. In the 2000s and 2010s, it’s all about the hipster party scene with dubstep and EDM tracks in Wynwood and Midtown Miami. Hence, many wannabe Millennial musicians also move to Miami in their hopes to become big.

Miami is also one of the places outside of Rio De Janeiro that celebrates Carnaval. You’re also treated to a nightclub scene at South Beach and Downtown Miami filled with a Latino flavor and a tinge of America thrown into the mix. It’s filled with the biggest DJs playing some underground sets you won’t hear on mainstream radio.

4. Close to nature

Millennials are the generation that grew up around the time when the realities of global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation. They were taught not to litter and to separate their recyclables from their biodegradable and non-biodegradable trash.

They were also born at a time when environmental activism is reaching its peaks, so quite a lot of these liberal progressive “tree huggers” would naturally want to live in a city nestled between two national parks, Biscayne and Everglades (the only U.S. city that can make such a claim in the first place).

They were born and raised to protect a planet they’ve inherited from their less-environment-conscious forebears.

5. Plenty of sun

Miami, Florida is one of the most tropical places in America, proving you don’t need to go out of the country or overseas in order to enjoy some beachside fun. Arguably, Miami and everyone in it are solar powered.

There’s a more calm and loose vibe in the city because no one is feeling winter doldrums or SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) due to not getting enough sunlight. You don’t need a winter coat in Miami. You instead need a swimsuit, so you’re encouraged to exercise and stay swimsuit-ready all year long.

The only real issues are the yearly hurricanes, tropical storms, and flooding from June to November. It’s no mystery why many Northerner Millennials would want a more relaxed change of pace in their four-season lives.

6. Cost of living

Not all Millennials study for college then suffer from the job drought while desperately finding jobs way below their expectations and education in order to pay for their huge student loan debt. Some of them are part of the one percent instead.

Maybe their parents are already multibillionaires who have a spare summer home or two that they can use as their place of residence while they attempt to find themselves. Perhaps they’re from a rock star family and they’re filming reality shows at nearby Hollywood. Or maybe they’re young tech billionaires themselves who’ve settled into a Miami mansion or castle.

7. Diversity

Because Miami is such a huge melting pot of people who are accepting of all races, creeds, genders, and so forth in all walks of life, progressive liberals can’t imagine going anywhere else except the states of Florida or California.

Millennials are a curious lot who are approaching the “finding yourself” philosophy of Hippies, Generation X and Y, and the Blank Generation in a whole different slant. For them, gender is a social construct and identity politics is a way of life. Miami is one such “safe space” for them to go to with all their unique generational beliefs.

8. Entertainment industry

Hollywood is just a stone’s throw away from Miami (relatively speaking) and for people who want to become mega-celebrities and entertainers, getting an apartment in Miami, hiring an agent, and getting auditions is the way to go while having a waiter or waitressing job at the countless restaurants there to make ends meet.

For them, it’s Miami or Los Angeles City as well as anywhere else within the California state that’s nearest to Tinsel Town. Of course, ironically enough, once they do make it big, they can move out of their two-bedroom apartment and settle into a beachfront mansion with their millions of dollars.

9. Idealism

Millennials aren’t the first or last generation to be idealistic. They grew up in an age where the Internet exists, smartphones and tablets are everywhere, and the Traditional American Dream of doing things you hate until you become rich enough to do the things you love has been usurped by simply doing the things you love until you make money off of them.

For those who aren’t wealthy and are aware of how hard it is to get a job in Miami in light of everyone going there, the average Millennial will still end up in Miami with the justification that things will get better and it’s the New Millennium’s version of the Land of Opportunity.

It’s only nature for any generation of youth to be naive. It’s all part of growing up, whether you’re a Baby Boomer who became a pot-smoking hippie protesting the Vietnam War or a Millennial who became a pot-smoking hipster protesting the Iraq War.