Why most of americans move to another state sometime in their life?

32 comments

1. I don’t believe most Europeans live their whole life in the same city.

2. Depends. Most often times people move because of job transfer; either their own, a spouse, or one of their parents.

   Some people move to other states for better weather, lower cost of living, or they want to be in a certain industry and move to a ‘hot spot’ of said industry. I.e. Tech in San Francisco, Finance in NYC, or film/entertainment in Los Angeles.

   In the most extreme cases it’s almost always for professional reasons. My parents each lived in 7 different cities across 6 states before finally settling in one because of their careers.

   You also see this a lot with military members and their families. It’s not unheard of for a person to have multiple duty stations (re: ‘office locations’) throughout their careers and often times not by choice. I know many people who have lived all over the US and abroad because they or their parents were in the military and Uncle Sam sent them where he needed them.

3. Why not? It’s a big place with a lot of variety. My wife and I moved to our current state mainly for the scenery and opportunity for lots of stuff to do outdoors.

4. We move for lots of reasons, but probably most often to pursue some sort of opportunity. It could be a job, a university, or a relationship. We keep trying to improve ourselves and our situations, and that often leads to a change of scenery.

5. My state is run poorly

6. You gotta chase your best life. If the job you want is 2000 miles away then you are going to move 2000 miles to get it. In addition not everyone likes the same climate, so people move around to where they enjoy living.

7. There’s a wide variety of cultures across the US, so people will usually gravitate toward wherever they belong most. Cost of living is also a big factor, it’s often the case that someone will grow up in a big city but when they want to settle down they’ll do so somewhere more affordable like the suburbs or a different state entirely. It certainly doesn’t hurt that basically everyone across the continent speaks the same language.

8. While it’s certainly not uncommon, most americans spend the majority of life near where they grew up, within 20 miles or so as a median. Only something like 20% live more than a couple hours’ drive from home. It is more common to move away for a bit for school or work while young and come back, though. Those kind of people won’t show up in these medians unless they happen to be away at the time the survey is taken.

   This summarizes it, but there’s plenty to read on it if you care to.

   [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/upshot/24up-family.html](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/upshot/24up-family.html)

   As to that 20%, well for me moving from Texas to Oregon would be 2,000 miles (~3200km) or so, but it’s going to be roughly the same laws, same language, same general background culture with just regional differences, same work authorization, my credentials will all be valid, etc…etc…etc…. . It’ll even be the same cell provider and I’ll be able to find MOST of my favorite foods from home without too much effort. Unless we get into going across russia there really isn’t anywhere in Europe where moving 2,000 miles would be that simple. That’s a big difference. People might just be chasing a different metro vibe and there are DOZENS of big ones to choose from without leaving the country. That’s just not the case over there.

   I suspect another big factor is a total lack of employer loyalty. Employees are easy to hire and easy to fire, but that also sets up a culture where people change jobs frequently. Neither is at all loyal to the other. If you’re just in an apartment there’s not much to lose by just up and taking a job elsewhere and there’s nothing stopping you from job hunting around different places to see what you might get if a beach would be cool for awhile.

9. From google; “nearly 72% of Americans live in or close to the city where they grew up.”

   So, they don’t. TV shows are not representative, and there’s probably a lot of confirmation bias.

   As for those that do: we move for opportunities, usually. I moved across the country right after college for a good job, fell in love with the city and stayed.

10. Most people end up staying pretty close to home.

    Anecdotally a lot of people I know that left Indiana shortly after college have ended up coming back for one reason or another.

    That said there may be some areas where its hard to find locals. Austin, TX is a booming city, growing a lot and locals are either getting pushed out or marginalized. Any type of seasonal area is going to have a lot of part-time residents.

11. Sometimes just for a change of pace…they’re from a small town with nothing to offer and they want more opportunity. Or they get tired of the life they have and want the opposite, so they move from city to country or vice-versa.

    Along those lines, in some career fields, you have to go where the jobs are. That’s espescially true in fields like broadcasting, where a news anchor starts at a station in a small market (city) and moves up to bigger ones during their career.

12. Only around 10% of the US population moves across State lines in any given year according to census data. Reasons for moving are typically things like going to college, or getting a good job.

    Moving cities within a State is more common. But also tends to be for college or getting a job.

    Something to remember is that American Culture prizes independence as a cultural value. That means we view moving out of your parents home, and moving away from area that they live as something that is good and shows your independence as a person. To not do these things can carry the connotation of you failing to be a fully developed adult.

13. A million different reasons. There’s not just one reason.

    1. For work or school. You might get offered a job in another state or choose to go to a school in another state, which requires you move there.

    2. For a change of scenery – maybe you prefer to live somewhere warm, so you’ll move from the northern US to the south. Or maybe you’re from a small town but want to move to a big city.

    3. To move somewhere they feel like they fit in more – for example, a Mormon who lives in Massachusetts might want to move to Utah to be around other Mormons.

    4. Political reasons – your current state might have some laws/cultural things you disagree with. Maybe you lean more conservative and you live in a very liberal area, you might want to move somewhere where people generally have political views more similar to yours.

    5. Cost of living – you might live in a very expensive state and want to move somewhere cheaper.

    6. Family reasons – you and your spouse might be from different areas, and you might need to move to where their family is from to take care of a sick family member or something.

    7. Just because you want to. You might go on vacation to another state, decide you like it better there than where you live, then move.

14. One thing you have to understand is that the people who work in television and movies are almost all people who have moved from their hometown to the places where television and movies are made.

    So, they end up writing stories that reflect moving away from your hometown being a part of growing up and getting a job.

15. Some reasons:

    Better weather

    Job opportunity/more money

    Less taxes in another state

    Moved there for university and stayed

    Cost of living

    Quality of life

    Fugitive from justice

16. Most people move for work. My grandparents did and so did I.

17. 2 reasons –

    (i) US is sparsely populated and spread out. Unlike Europe, populations don’t cluster around specific points of historic importance. There is a large surburban and semi-rural sprawl along with factory-towns in the middle of nowhere. Movement is quite natural. People drive 4 towns away for their jobs and back. When they get a new job, its 6 towns away in the other direction.

    (ii) Most likely, people, grow up in a faraway place as a child, then for college and job, relocate to a major city or business center. And then, once done hustling, return back to the suburbs and small-towns to raise kids or retire. So it’s a part of a life-cycle.

18. This is actually pretty rare. Most Americans tend to live around the areas they grew up. My wife and I bought a house in the town we both grew up in and a lot of our friends are here too.

    It’s possible though that the shows your watching just happen to be set in places people move to. New York and Los Angeles are both common locations for shows and places people move.

19. The US is really…really spread out, and in short, it is relatively easy to move in the US. The difference in culture plays a role to. A lot of places in Europe are a lot more family oriented than we are in the states. In the states, it is not uncommon to leave home around 18 (for school, work, whatever) and be out for good. If you go for school, you have to go where the schools are, and from there, wherever your job takes you.

20. I don’t think your assumption is accurate… while many Americans do move to new cities, states it’s not a majority. You might see a biases set by noticing game shows as some draw contestants from the types of backgrounds that do move for education or career motives (say Jeopardy) while others mostly draw from people living in LA. Many people move to LA to “become a star” and thus came from elsewhere, especially those who might be available to attend show taping during the day, want to be on TV, etc.

21. TV shows take place in LA and NYC where the transient population in higher. 30% of NYC wasn’t even born in the US. Also the people who write TV shows are in the upper professional class. People in this class move around more.

22. Usually, for jobs.

23. In my case: I grew up in NY. I went to college in Virginia bc I wanted the traditional college experience and it was strong in my desired areas of study. Then I met my husband while visiting a friend while he was in medical school in Georgia (he grew up in a small town in TN and wanted to try something new.) I moved to Atlanta for a bit. Then his residency matched him in NH; so we lived right over the border in VT, in between his job and my job. Then we moved to Virginia for his fellowship (next step in medical training). after fellowship, he got a job in the Midwest. It wasn’t a great fit, so he then took a job in our current city in Missouri, which is where we are now!

24. Most people ITT are arguing about how likely it is for American’s to move, but they aren’t answering your question.

    Most people move in two stages of their lives, When they are children, and When they are an adult.

    When you are a child you will likely move away from your hometown because your parents relocate to a different state/city. However some children may move to go live with other relatives for various reasons.

    When you are an adult, I’d imagine the most common reasons to relocate are going to a college/university in another state, or getting hired to work at a company that is based in a different city/state that you grew up in.

    Hope that helps.

25. My personal experience – I liked the place I grew up but I knew I didn’t want to live there. I went to college in a different state (as a number of people do, partly to get more independence from parents) and I moved after college to the big city that was closest to, but not in, my state. I had no interest in moving back to the suburban small town I grew up in because there was no job there I could imagine doing. “Moving to the city” is a common thing across the entire world, and in the US it often involves moving to a new state especially if you grew up (as I did) in the northeast where every 50-100 miles you go, you are in a new state.

    Eventually I moved across the country, again for a job. There’s a lot of flexibility in our labor market (for better or for worse) and many many people just follow good job opportunities if they want to, or need to.

26. I feel like that stat might not be the most accurate but I get the sentiment. How life operates from state to state both in work and outside of work can be different, drastically sometimes. Whether it is with regards to no state tax or or the ability to open carry a gun. There can be significant life changes depending on the state you live in. The bonus of living in the U.S. (one of the few IMO) that you can easily move from one state to another and get a different lifestyle or economic situation and the cost is relatively small. You can get big changes state to state and all you have to do it change your address (update taxes as well). It’s not like you need to get a visa or apply for citizenship or something. You can significantly change your life whether it is lifestyle or opportunity for little cost.

27. Because a lot of states aren’t that big. We have a wealthy and mobile populace that moves for work or family. There aren’t any real obstacles from moving between states like there is for moving between countries.

28. For me personally? It was to get away from my home state for College, where I met a man (my late husband) and ended up relocating to be with him. After he passed away, I moved again to be with my current husband. But the triggers to move could be job related or relationship related. There’s lots of reasons to move and lots of places to go!

29. Move for work. Move cause you want to.

30. The military made my family move countless times. We’ve moved so much I really only call my hometown where most my family lives and I’ve lived there for only a very short period of time.

31. When I moved to New Jersey in 2011, a local asked, “Why the fuck would anyone move from California to Jersey?” My answer was “You go where the jobs are.”

    In my working life, I moved from California to Oregon to California to Pennsylvania to California to New Jersey. All but one for a job. The other was for love. Now I’m retired and when my GF retires, she’d us like to move to Virginia.

32. Why wouldn’t people move if they could or want to? How is this such a foreign concept of living somewhere different in your entire existence?