Miami For Family Offices

Miami feels like the hottest place for family offices right now.

A recent New York Times article highlighted how the family offices for Peter Thiel, Mohamed Mansour and Tom Brady were leasing office space in Miami and breaking rental records in the process.

They join other high-profile billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Ken Griffin, who have either relocated or purchased homes there. Griffin recently made the news for acquiring an entire 138-condo Miami apartment building. 

Such notable real estate activity reflects Miami’s emergence as a wealth hub, as it attracts family offices as well as the growing number of private banks, tax specialists and legal advisors that service them.

But will “Wall Street South” challenge stalwarts like New York as a primary wealth hub though?

Joe Roos, Chief Investment Officer at Zittman Family Office, believes Miami has evolved from an emerging ecosystem to a credible alternative for sophisticated family office capital.

“The pro-business mandate and compelling tax environment serve as the foundation, but the peer network, deal flow quality, service provider infrastructure, and talent pool have vastly improved over the past five to ten years.”

He adds its location offers a notable strategic advantage. 

“Miami is the only major US domestic financial center that serves as a gateway to Latin America while also serving as a hub for capital flows from Europe and the Middle East, which creates a unique dynamic for family offices with global investment mandates or international operating businesses.”

The family office has specifically benefited from him being based there, notably from an investment perspective.

“ZFO tends to invest thematically by identifying durable competitive themes that we think will persist for at least the next decade, many of which offer some form of regulatory arbitrage opportunity.”

“We have been able to develop a robust family office and deal flow network across many of these themes, e.g. quantum, nuclear, fintech, crypto, space, biotech, etc., where Miami sits at the forefront of innovation.”

Roos does admit that while the increasing presence of notable billionaires reflects Miami’s attractiveness, there are still gaps in its family office ecosystem.

“While Miami continues to attract and retain talent across bankers, lawyers, private equity professionals, venture capitalists, etc. the ecosystem still needs to develop a deeper bench of family office talent to support the massive wealth migration to the region.”

Services in demand

Benjamin Vaschetti, from Miami-based family office concierge service Maison Benjamin, says the change in Miami over the past few years has been clearly visible.

“You can see it in the volume of luxury residential transactions, the demand for private schools, the expansion of private banks and wealth-management firms, and the number of financial and professional-services companies establishing offices here.”

“What I find most significant is that these families are not simply purchasing a second home. Many are making Miami a genuine base—relocating their families, opening offices and building local advisory teams.”

This has brought major benefits for Maison Benjamin, as demand for trusted, local partners increases.

“More Miami-based families and family offices now rely on us as their ‘on-the-ground’ agency, particularly around major events such as Miami Art Week and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. Being based here allows us to facilitate access, coordinate hospitality and transportation, and respond quickly when requests or plans change at the last minute.”

Aside from providing access, Maison Benjamin has seen growing demand for services stemming from Miami being a natural gateway between North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We regularly source properties and experiences within a two- or three-hour flight across the Caribbean, particularly for family gatherings, multigenerational travel and private wellness retreats.”

“For multi-family offices with Latin American clients, we also receive requests for relocation support, particularly when a family is looking for a condominium, winter residence or secondary home in Miami.”

Riding the momentum

Tax advantages, like zero state-level income or estate tax, combined with the vibrant Miami lifestyle are compelling attractions for wealthy families, but its emergence as a genuine family office hub has become another.

Roos notes there is still some way to go though.

“Miami needs to continue to develop a stronger institutional quality private market ecosystem and trusted collaborative network amongst single family offices allocating to directs. The ecosystem needs fewer family office conferences and more intimate gatherings where there are ten family offices sitting around a table with common values and investment mandates.”

While the headlines are on Miami’s momentum and influx of professionals, Roos says family offices should still exercise caution when it comes to hiring, with emphasis on talent they can retain for at least a decade given the dynamics of family offices.

His advice for those considering setting up an office there is simple: “Start slowly and hire slower.”

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Miami's biggest financial selling point: Florida.

It gives you many of the advantages of living in the United States without the state income-tax bill that comes with New York or California.

✅ No Florida personal income tax
✅ No Florida tax on individual capital gains
✅ No Florida estate tax for modern estates (Florida Dept. of Revenue)
✅ No state inheritance tax
✅ No state wealth tax
✅ No Miami city income tax
✅ Florida corporate income tax is 5.5% for corporations within its scope. (Florida Dept. of Revenue)

For a founder selling a business, hedge fund manager receiving carried interest or family with a large investment portfolio, moving from a high-tax state can therefore make an enormous difference.

But there is a very large asterisk: Miami is not Dubai.

You are still in the United States. Federal income tax, capital gains tax, estate and gift tax rules remain relevant. And this is particularly important for international families. A foreign national who becomes a US tax resident under the Green Card Test or Substantial Presence Test can become taxable in the US on worldwide income. (IRS)

So for an American moving from Manhattan to Miami, the tax story can be spectacular.
For a billionaire moving from Monaco, Dubai or Switzerland?

Get advice first.

Many internationally mobile families therefore use Miami as an operational or lifestyle base while maintaining trusts, holding companies and investment structures elsewhere.

And if you're claiming to have moved from New York or California, actually move. A Florida driver's licence and a condo you visit occasionally are not the same thing as genuinely changing domicile.

Bottom line: Miami isn't a tax haven. It is a highly tax-efficient place to live by US standards.

There are worse places to manage a billion dollars. Miami combines big-city energy with resort living in a way few financial centers can match.

Brickell has become the financial centre: glass towers, private banks, investment firms and expensive restaurants.

Miami Beach provides the other half of the equation: waterfront homes, hotels, restaurants, clubs and an increasingly extraordinary concentration of wealth.

Miami also feels genuinely international. Spanish is heard everywhere and the city's deep ties to Latin America mean it often feels more like a global capital than a conventional American city. That is a major advantage for Latin American families who want access to the US while remaining culturally and geographically close to home.

The downside?

Summer is seriously hot and humid. Traffic can be painful. Hurricanes are real. And prime property is no longer remotely cheap. Miami Beach now features among the world's most expensive luxury residential markets. (Henley & Partners)

But if your ideal working day ends with dinner overlooking the ocean rather than a commute home through sleet, Miami makes a strong case.

Miami's family office story is really part of something bigger: the rise of “Wall Street South.”

What started as a pandemic-era migration has developed into a genuine shift in the geography of American wealth.

Families, hedge funds, private equity executives, entrepreneurs and asset managers have moved south from New York, California and Chicago. Bloomberg has documented the growing migration of financial firms to South Florida, accelerated by the relocation of Citadel and Citadel Securities. (Bloomberg)

And where wealthy principals go, the infrastructure follows. Miami now has an increasingly deep ecosystem of:

There is no definitive public count of Miami family offices (which is partly the point with family offices) but specialist database Altss estimates there were 347 Florida-based family offices by June 2026, with continued migration from New York. Treat the exact number cautiously, but the direction of travel is clear. (Altss)

The family office mix is also unusual. Miami sits at the intersection of several different pools of wealth:

That creates a much more entrepreneurial FO community than you might find in some traditional private-banking centres. And Miami increasingly isn't just where the principal lives while the investment team remains in New York, the investment teams are moving too.

The SEC position is relatively family-office friendly for genuine SFOs: a qualifying family office can fall outside the Investment Advisers Act where it advises only family clients, is wholly owned by family clients and controlled by family members/family entities, and does not hold itself out publicly as an investment adviser. (Securities and Exchange Commission)

Once you start taking external money or serving multiple unrelated families, however, the regulatory picture changes considerably.

Miami therefore works particularly well for entrepreneurial SFOs that want access to US capital markets and deal flow without paying New York taxes, and for Latin American families wanting a sophisticated US base.

The ecosystem still doesn't have the institutional depth of New York, but that gap is closing. Fast.

Pros:

Cons:

The biggest attraction?

You can combine a serious US financial centre, zero state income tax, Latin American connectivity and a world-class lifestyle in one place.

The biggest drawback?

It is still America, with the federal tax and regulatory system that comes with it. For US families, that trade can be extremely compelling. For international families, the calculation is much more nuanced.

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