Los Angeles has the entertainment pedigree, but there’s another city in the US that’s home to even more top influencers per capita: Miami.
Vale and Sebastian Genta understand why. The siblings and social media personalities moved back to their hometown of Miami in 2021, after spending five years in LA. The pair, who post about their glamorous lives and occasionally offer a wry take on influencing, wondered what their move would mean for their careers. They were pleasantly surprised.
“Miami was a completely different city,” Vale said. “The amount of events in Miami, the amount of people that are there, brands that are present, it’s almost as much as LA.”
“Many of us know each other, so if you go to events that Gucci is throwing at the Design District, you’re more than likely going to bump into five to 20 familiar faces,” Sebastian said of the upscale fashion and design neighborhood.
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The Gentas aren’t alone. New research shared exclusively with Business Insider by Patrick Adler, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, reveals that Miami consistently ranks as the No. 3 metro area in the US by top Instagram creator count, after LA and New York City.
Miami boasts over 6,000 top Instagram influencers. LA has roughly 12,000, and NYC nearly 11,000. (Seattle was next, with about 4,000.)
Adler, who has also conducted research on the closely watched Otis Report on the Creative Economy, ranked metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) by creators in the top 10% in terms of Instagram followers, using data from an influencer marketing firm. Adler said that other platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, showed similar trends.
Miami still has a ways to go in absolute numbers to catch up with LA and NYC, long known as the centers of US media and entertainment, but it’s punching way above its weight. It’s only the sixth-largest market by population and the seventh-largest traditional entertainment market.
Looking at the data another way, Miami actually has more top influencers per capita than LA.
Other markets that regularly came up in the top 10 by this measurement are creative hot spots like Las Vegas, Atlanta, Houston, and Nashville.
Victoria Bachan, an SVP at Wasserman Creators, said that for the new guard of independent creators, being in LA or NYC matters less.
“Take the biggest YouTuber in the world, MrBeast — he’s in Greenville, NC,” she said.
Low taxes and warm weather
Miami experienced a relocation boom during the COVID-19 pandemic as people, creators included, flocked to South Florida for its warm weather and lack of state or local income taxes. Creators found a growing number of events like Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, which debuted in Miami in 2022, as well as the Miami Open tennis tournament and Art Basel Miami Beach, which offer places for them to be seen. Brands like Geico and Vuori also seek out personalities there when they want to tap into the Miami lifestyle and Latino culture.
Top Miami influencers include breakout TikTok star Alix Earle, who gained social media fame while attending the University of Miami, and Xandra Pohl, a DJ and model. The scene features prominent food influencers like Samantha Schnur, known as The Naughty Fork, and Nico Norena.
Cities like Miami have also offered a haven for Angelenos struggling with the high cost of living in LA and early 2025 wildfires, Wasserman Creators’ Bachan said.
“They’re crunching the numbers, and a lot of them did pick up and move to Atlanta and Vegas and Miami,” she said.
Becca Bahrke, CEO of Illuminate Social, a creator management firm with about 85 clients, estimated that before 2020, 80% of her clients were in LA and NYC. Since then, the ratio has flipped, and her clients are now sprinkled all around the US, from Hawaii to South Carolina.
“We saw a mass exodus,” she said.
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LA is losing ground as the entertainment center
LA is still the entertainment capital in terms of population. But this new data adds to the narrative of a traditional entertainment industry in decline.
LA has lost ground in traditional film and TV, with the rise of lower-cost film hubs elsewhere. A growing number of A-listers have decamped for other cities.
Still, there are limitations to living in secondary markets for certain types of creators. Being in LA or NYC is considered important in the industry if you aspire to be a Hollywood actor and want to collaborate in person with other creators and attend major events.
“Our advice is if you want to make money, have an address in New York and LA,” said Kyle Hjelmeseth, CEO of G&B Digital Management. Some managers also caution against moving outside the US, saying it can impact your ability to get brand deals.
The Genta siblings said they wish Miami had a bigger TV and film scene to help their peers who are seeking those opportunities. They started #NextGen Creators, an events series where creators can learn and mingle with brands.
“Many creators want to move on to traditional media, like hosting television, acting, whatever that may look like, and I do think Miami still lacks in that,” Sebastian said.
