Seasonal migration in Florida: An analysis of predictors and local impacts

Elderly seasonal migration is strong in certain parts of the United States. Florida experiences drastic annual fluctuations in population due to this trend, and certain geographic areas within the state are more attractive than others. According to current literature on the topic, there are both negative and positive consequences to the area of in-migration. The first main goal of this paper is to determine which of the variables suggested by the current literature actually are associated with a high seasonal population. It was found that all of the variables suggested were extremely multicollinear, but percentage 65 and older had the highest overall correlation. The second goal is to perform an analysis of the effects of the seasonal population on a city with a high raw number of seasonal housing units---Boca Raton. This was done through a comparison of the current literature with empirical evidence gathered on Boca Raton. It was found that Boca Raton is consistent with the literature with the majority of the effects.