Head to head
Malibu vs Miami.
Miami leaves about $102K more of a $1M income in hand each year than Malibu, on the Patrician.ch 2026 model. Both in 🇺🇸 United States, compared on tax, residence, cost and the life.
In short, current to October 2026
- State income tax on $1,000,000: $102,460 in Malibu (California), and none in Miami, since Florida has no state income tax. Federal income tax, $320,000, is the same in both at this income, so the whole difference is state tax.
- On $1,000,000 of income, Malibu takes an effective 42% and Miami takes 32%, federal and state together, so Miami leaves about $102K more in hand each year on the Patrician.ch 2026 model.
- On a capital gain realized after residence begins, the total is 37% in Malibu and 24% in Miami. Federal tax is the same in both, and the gap is state tax: 13.3% in California, none in Florida. On a $5,000,000 event that is about $665K.
- Estate: the federal estate tax, 40% above $15M per person in 2026 and paid by the estate, is the same in both. Neither California nor Florida has an estate or inheritance tax of its own.
- Cost of the life is 140 in Malibu against 80 in Miami on the Patrician.ch index where Zurich is 100, and safety 8 against 6 of 10. Both are Patrician.ch editorial indices scored by us, not published statistics.
Source: the Patrician.ch board, an original ranking of 100 residence addresses across 47 countries and territories. Tax rates, thresholds and routes are sourced. Cost, safety, schools, sun and beauty are Patrician.ch editorial indices. Figures current to October 2026. Updated . Cite as: Patrician.ch, Malibu (California) vs Miami (Florida): tax, residence and cost 2026, patrician.ch/compare/malibu-vs-miami/, October 2026.
