SWFL growth set to pick up in 2026 despite headwinds and rising costs

I’m a stats nerd but also kinda a delinquent with too much time so in February on my most recent drive down I75. I set up 6 trail cameras hidden along side i75. By the time everything was working. 3 cameras north and 3 cameras south. I won’t reveal camera locations for obvious reasons beside the fact they are placed to capture as much traffic along i75 as possible and determine potential destinations

NOTE- This is a very unsanctioned I’m a single person I did this – this methodology has flaws but so does every statistical method and things can be improved. I’m 22, broke as shit and doing this science experiment was risky as FDOT or some rando had a high probability of yeeting my cameras. Here’s the data.

The data captures the amount of U-HAUL-PENSKE VEHICLES ONLY GREATER THAN 10’ in length. the only U-Haul trailer that is counted in this is uhauls vehicle dolly which is a strong indicator for a move

For the days March 1-14 2026

SB – 8531 vehicles

NB – 5495 vehicles

Particularly strong metros in order of highest IB to OB

Ocala

St Pete/CLW

North port/Charlotte

Naples/BS recorded MORE OB to IB being the least moved to spot by budget conscious movers

United Van lines indicated that Florida moving dropped 92% since the pandemic. While it’s certainly lower, I’m afraid I wouldn’t expect a huge exodus or reduction in housing costs, I’m afraid.

Why I did this? Mainly to see if it would be noticed