Puerto Rico wants your next vacation to last forever
Kreher had never stepped foot on the island before she left Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and two young children to start their new life in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November 2024. But she was excited to take the leap.
"It was like, if we don't do it, would we be kicking ourselves for not getting out of our comfort zone?" Kreher, 34, told Business Insider.
So far, life on the island has been wonderful. The Krehers have become more active as a family thanks to Puerto Rico's temperate climate and scores of scenic beaches and trails, and they've quickly built a support system in their kind and welcoming community. Maybe their kids will even end up being bilingual.
"Some things are different, but you're not left wanting, like maybe some folks would imagine," Kreher said.
With its white sand beaches, lively culture, and relatively fast flight time from the East Coast, Americans often see Puerto Rico as an easy tropical getaway that doesn't require digging up a passport. Travelers are increasingly flocking to the island: Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, in the capital municipality of San Juan, received 6.6 million passenger arrivals in 2024 — an 8% increase from the previous year, according to Discover Puerto Rico, which called the stat "record growth."
But Puerto Rico isn't satisfied with quick trips anymore. They want you to stay longer — like, forever — and are introducing favorable tax incentives and new infrastructure to make your everyday life feel like a vacation.
Room for a rebrand
Compared to the mainland states, Puerto Rico is fairly small. Its entire area — all 3,515 square miles — could fit inside Connecticut. Its estimated population, about 3.1 million people according to the 2023 US Census, is roughly comparable to the population of Iowa.
In 2022 and 2023 combined, 50,577 Americans moved to Puerto Rico. While that's not a particularly impressive statistic — the island only captured more American movers than one state, Wyoming, in 2023 — Puerto Rico has plans to better accommodate more long-term residents in the future.
An influx of Americans will require updated infrastructure to make them happy. Though cities on the northern part of the island, like Condado, Old San Juan, and Dorado, have a healthy number of Americans living in them and are generally better equipped with things like generators and cisterns, other parts of Puerto Rico are still lacking. In 2019, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave Puerto Rico a "D-" grade in infrastructure, citing issues like poor roadway conditions and inadequate energy infrastructure.
For Kreher, who lives with her family in a three-bedroom apartment in Condado, it's not a major problem. She chose their building not just for its location directly on the ocean, but because it has a backup generator, a non-negotiable for her setup as a remote worker who requires a reliable connection.
Still, the Krehers haven't been entirely immune to Puerto Rico's infrastructure issues.
"The last time we were at church, the power went out halfway through the sermon, and they didn't have a generator," Kreher said. But when these things happen, everyone takes it in stride: "You wouldn't believe how frequently the stoplights go out and how we all just know how to handle it," she added.
In 2019, Puerto Rico passed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, which set a goal to reach 100% of the island's electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050. In December 2022, Congress approved $1 billion to upgrade the resilience of Puerto Rico's electric grid.
It's enough of an issue that Puerto Rico is trying to change the narrative and expand comfortable living to other parts of the island. Moncayo, a resort-style luxury development, is scheduled to open in 2027 on Puerto Rico's eastern shoreline.
Carter Redd, the developer and president of Moncayo, told Business Insider that the development was designed intentionally with a primary residential community — not vacationers — in mind. The amenities you'd expect to see at a tropical residence like golf, pickleball, and a wellness facility are all still there, but Moncayo is also enticing full-time residents with a farm, a PPK-12 international school, and a medical center.
"There are more and more people who are looking to Puerto Rico not as a weekend getaway or as a second or third home, but as a primary home community and destination," Redd said.
Moncayo isn't the only luxury development coming to the island. Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico is set to open in late 2025 just thirty minutes from Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, and the Mandarin Oriental Esencia, a residential project on 2,000 acres of the island's southwestern coast, is scheduled to open in 2028.
Taxes that aren't taxing
For some, the cost of living is an important factor in leaving the US. Though Puerto Rico isn't necessarily any cheaper than the mainland, there are some incentives that can sweeten the deal for foreigners.
Michael McCready, a 56-year-old lawyer, moved from Chicago to San Juan in January. He pays more for rent in San Juan than he did in Chicago, but his take-home pay is a lot larger thanks to Act 60, a tax incentive put in place in 2020 to lure Americans and foreigners to Puerto Rico in hopes of boosting the economy.
Act 60 gives residents a 4% income tax rate, a 75% discount on property tax, and a 100% exemption from capital gains accrued while in Puerto Rico.
Carlos Fontan, the former director at the Office of Incentives for Businesses in Puerto Rico, said Act 60 is not dissimilar to the ways different states play with tax provisions to attract residents.
"We want people in Puerto Rico who can invest in different sectors of the island, create jobs, and create opportunities," Fontan said. "It's a win-win situation for our socioeconomic framework on the island."
Fontan and Humberto Mercader, former deputy secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce, believe Act 60 will help change misconceptions about Puerto Rico as a vacation-only destination. According to the Foundation for Puerto Rico's Economy, tourism only accounted for 2% of Puerto Rico's GDP in 2022, while manufacturing accounted for 43%.
"Puerto Rico has a very strong industrial base and an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is sometimes overlooked because of the tourism," Mercader told Business Insider. "But when you think about attracting long-term residents, you're talking about bringing people who will bring their businesses here."
For movers like McCready, Puerto Rico's lifestyle advantages are what sold him. The tax incentives were the cherry on top.
"I joke to my wife and say I would live at the North Pole for these taxes," he said. "But it just happens to be an absolutely amazing place to live. Even without the tax benefits, I would still be happy here."
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