Major financial firms that symbolize Wall Street, the "center of global finance," are leaving New York or rapidly setting up or expanding footholds in the southern Sun Belt.
Wall Street is known as one of the most expensive places in the world for commercial real estate rents and the cost of living. On top of that, after Zohran Mamdani took office as the new New York mayor, regulations that squeeze business activity are expected to tighten further. Finance heavyweights, who put efficiency first, are increasingly adopting a hybrid model that leaves only core capital market functions and symbolism in New York, while shifting some high-end jobs and command functions to drive future growth to Texas and Florida.
On the 29th (local time), Apollo Global Management (Apollo), a global alternative asset manager with 1,420 trillion won in assets under management, notified employees that it "plans to establish a second headquarters in Texas or South Florida, alongside the New York headquarters."
Alternative asset managers like Apollo seek high returns by investing in nontraditional assets such as private equity, real estate, and infrastructure, going beyond traditional financial products like stocks and bonds. In this market, Apollo has reigned alongside Blackstone as one of two pillars. In particular, it grew rapidly by absorbing demand for corporate, infrastructure, and asset finance that banks could not meet during the period of rising interest rates.
Apollo's headcount swelled from about 1,700 employees in 2020 to more than 4,000 last year. An Apollo Spokesperson said the decision "is based on the future hiring profile and the corporations' vision," adding that "most of the new personnel needed for growth will be hired at the second headquarters."
Apollo's decision is a prime example that lays bare the southward shift of Wall Street. Financial firms that once clung to Wall Street have been racing south around the pandemic. AllianceBernstein (AB), which manages 1,000 trillion won, announced in 2018 that it would leave New York and transfer its global headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee.
Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street stalwart, built a new campus in Dallas, Texas, to house more than 5,000 new employees. Rather than moving the entire corporations in a drastic way, the strategy is to carve out entire business units or set up large hubs. JPMorgan said its Texas workforce has reached 31,500, surpassing New York to become the largest by state in the United States.
Major financial firms that were based outside Wall Street have also built a new, large capital ecosystem in the Sun Belt. Charles Schwab, the largest securities firm in the United States, transferred its corporate headquarters in 2020 from San Francisco to Westlake, Texas. Wells Fargo, a powerhouse in Western finance, likewise decided to move its wealth management institutional sector headquarters to West Palm Beach, Florida. Citadel, the world's largest hedge fund led by billionaire investor Ken Griffin, moved its headquarters in 2022 from Chicago to Miami, Florida. At the time, Griffin called Miami a "city emerging as a global financial center."
Wall Street carries an unrivaled symbolic status as the No. 1 address in global finance. But it has faced constant criticism that the price is putting up with high tax rates and a tough regulatory environment. By contrast, Texas and Florida have finance-friendly regulations at the state government level.
The most notable difference is taxes. For high earners in New York City, the individual income tax rate can climb to as high as 14.776%, combining a state maximum of 10.9% and a city maximum of 3.876%. Texas and Florida, by contrast, have no state individual income tax. From the perspective of financial companies, even offering the same salary, the South is far more advantageous in terms of the expense of attracting talent. It is also easier to reduce the expense of transferring high-paid personnel and compensation burdens.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said at the America Business Forum in Miami in Nov. 2025 that "state governments imposing high taxes and excessive regulations are driving out corporations and residents," adding they are "pushing (financial firms) to escape to pro-growth Sun Belt regions like Florida or Texas."
That said, it is still premature to conclude from this trend that all of Wall Street is collapsing or that there is a complete exodus abandoning New York. When a single asset manager runs a project, related service industries such as large law firms, accounting firms, and consulting companies follow like dominoes. In Manhattan, investment banks, private equity firms, law firms, accounting firms, and advisory firms are clustered together, and the core network that drives big transactions is already tightly formed. While some offices can be moved south, it is not easy to strip out these functions all at once.
A strong preference among young junior talent for New York's overwhelming cultural appeal and career development opportunities is also cited as a major constraint. American Express has recently bucked the outflow by sharply expanding its real estate footprint in New York.
Cristobal Young, a sociology professor at Cornell University, said in an interview with the British outlet the Guardian that "high earners have formed strong attachments to particular regions through family or economic networks," analyzing that "the complexity involved in leaving and giving up the cultural benefits and business opportunities offered by large cities like New York is far greater than the amount of tax increases."