Just behind the state of Montana, Florida is the second-best state to work in for wage increases, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) .
Florida had the second-largest percentage increase in wages (even outpacing inflation) between 2020 and 2023, recording a 19.9% increase. During that time period, Florida wage increase went from an average $18.07 per hour in 2020 to $21.67 in 2023, 66 cents better per hour than America’s overall increase.
In real terms, Floridians were 17 cents an hour better off on average in 2023 than in 2020. This is because the 2020 median hourly wage was $21.50 in 2023 dollars.
The BLS numbers also showed which areas in the state had the best performance.
Florida’s best-performing area between 2020 and 2023 was The Villages, recording a 20.6% average increase from $15.94 to $19.22 per hour. Miami was the best-performing large metro area in America, with a 20.2% increase in median hourly wages, from $18.60 in 2020 to $22.36 in 2023.
“On paper, Americans are better off now than at the start of the pandemic. However, to many Americans, it doesn’t feel this way. Inflation outpaced the median wage increases in all but four states between 2020 and 2023, which has contributed to the current cost of living crisis,” said Work management firm Asana.
One reason Florida did well during this time frame was that the state was mostly open while other states closed down their economies due to COVID-19.
Asana says another factor of the wage increases was due to the large amount of inflation that came from the measures employed to mitigate the pandemic’s worst economic impacts, in addition to other factors, such as supply shortages driving up prices, and companies raising prices above the inflation rate to profit from rapid price rises.
For metro areas with greater than 500,000 total employment in 2023, Miami, Florida, performed the best, outstripping inflation by 23 cents per hour, and Washington, D.C., performed the worst, with workers $3.31 worse off per hour in real terms than 2020. The best-performing metro area overall was Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas.
