More than 100 Orthodox Jewish families are planning to leave New York for a new Florida community after 60 families already made the move, fleeing what they describe as surging antisemitism and political dysfunction.
The destination is Lakefront Estates, a $300 million, 550-acre development in Glades County that opened in October and now hosts a kosher supermarket, synagogue and yeshiva. Homes start at $460,000 for four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot models and run to $585,000 for seven-bedroom, 3,700-square-foot properties, according to CEO Yidel Perlstein.
Perlstein said Orthodox Jewish buyers have driven the first wave of sales because so many Jews were actively seeking to leave New York, though he emphasized the homes remain open to any purchaser. He described the reception from Glades County’s 13,270 residents as overwhelmingly warm.
“It’s a paradise, the weather is nice, the people are nice, everyone is so welcoming,” Perlstein said.
New York State Rep. Aron Wieder, a Democrat representing Rockland County, has watched 20 families from his heavily Orthodox district relocate to Lakefront Estates. Wieder tied the exodus directly to a climate of fear he said has grown increasingly intolerable.
“All my grandparents were Holocaust survivors, never would they have dreamed that their descendants would have to face what they faced in the leadup to the Holocaust,” Wieder said.
“For a Jew to have to look over their shoulder when they’re walking down the street, it’s very disturbing,” he added.
Wieder also cited high taxes and housing costs as push factors. New York carries the nation’s highest state and local tax burden at roughly $13,000 per capita, per Citizens Budget Commission data, and ranked last in housing affordability and homebuilding in the 2026 Realtor Housing Report Card. Orthodox families, who tend to have larger households and need more spacious homes or costly additions, have found those requirements increasingly out of reach.
NYPD data shows hate crimes in New York City jumped nearly 16% year-over-year, with attacks against Jews accounting for half the total. Multiple families interviewed by the outlet said rising antisemitism, which they said intensified under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, provided the final impetus to leave.
“You could feel the antisemitism everywhere; even my community Borough Park changed after Mamdani came in,” said Morris, a former Brooklynite who requested anonymity citing fear of retaliation from far-right influencers.
A mother of four, also speaking anonymously, said her family faced both hostility and financial pressure in New York. She now works as an educator in the Florida town alongside her husband.
“New York has become increasingly antisemitic, we’ve been facing that a lot,” she said.
She noted that Florida’s school voucher program, which helps cover private school tuition, factored into the relocation decision.
The new arrivals have encountered hostility from a different quarter entirely. Far-right influencers Jake Lang and Jeffrey Walstein, who uses the online moniker “The Jersey Goy,” have targeted the community with in-person visits and viral social media campaigns. Lang appeared in Lakefront Estates on October 13, with Walstein arriving the following day.
“They don’t assimilate, they eat their own food, speak their own language, they worship their own God, they don’t dress like us, they are not Americans,” Lang said outside the community in a video that circulated widely online.
Perlstein praised local authorities for protecting the community but acknowledged lingering anxiety among residents about the influencers’ reach.
“Millions of people watch him, all it takes is one crazy person,” Perlstein said.
The mother of four confirmed that while business owners had been friendly, some local residents had shown hostility. Despite the outside agitation, she framed the community’s purpose in simple terms.
“We’re just a few people in no man land, We’re here to build our families, build our community, be nice to our neighbors,” she said.
