A must-visit city in the United States, Miami is known all around the world for its excellent hotels, beautiful beaches and its vibrant culture. However, once Miami’s tourists, who are blinded by its appealing aspects, finally open their eyes, they will find themselves disappointed by the difficulties Miami’s residents face daily trying to survive in a city built to attract visitors, not keep them.

Arguably the most important factor allowing Miami’s society to run the way it does, both economically and socially, is transportation. Miami needs to pick up its slack on its traffic situation. According to CBS, Miami ranks sixth in a list of U.S. cities with the worst traffic. While being late to school nearly every day might only have an effect on my attendance in the grade book, daily tardiness of the CEO of a large company might have a more vast consequence. This continues to be a problem in the late afternoon, as everyone piles onto the busy road to get home from work during rush hour, making it nearly impossible to have a pleasant drive in the “beautiful” city. Seriously, who really enjoys staring at the back of the ugly car in front of them with a custom license plate spelling out “D4D3M4DE” for over an hour and a half?

“Of course I have to deal with heavy traffic,” junior Jayden Solomon said. “Every time I go out for dinner at 5:30 I’m sitting on US-1 watching TikToks surrounded by other people honking. By the time we get to the restaurant, it’s 8:30, three entire hours later.”

If being stuck in constant traffic jams is not enough to make you reconsider living here, just imagine feeling like you are going to pass out the second you step outside your house. According to the Miami Herald, Miami ranks eighth in U.S. cities with the highest average relative humidity which, combined with the extreme heat, makes it very hard to stay outside for hours at a time. Having hot temperatures year-round creates a lack of seasons in Miami and upsets those, such as me, who would enjoy a bit of diversity in the weather. After all, it is not my fault my parents decided to live near the equator. 

Additionally, unless you are rich and own NFTs, living in Miami may be difficult as it has been ranked the city with the least affordable housing market in the U.S.. According to CNBC, the Magic City has a median home price of $610,000 and a median income of only $44,581. It might cost someone most of their life’s savings to buy a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in the relatively nice part of Miami.

“Another bad thing about living in Miami is the people, they are definitely not the kindest,” senior Audrey Simon said.

Despite all these negative facts about living in Miami, it is still a great city to visit or even live in if you are willing to face quite a few troubles. Just do your best to avoid heavy traffic, stay hydrated and watch out for the creeps on the beach trying to interview you to find out every little detail about your personal life.