The reason for the Great American Exit
A trend-breaker nearly 100 years in the making—sounds like something significant is going on.
Per a recent Fortune headline:
“More people are moving out of the U.S. than moving in for the first time since the Great Depression—a bad omen for the $38.8 trillion national debt”
Apparently, for an increasing number of folks who once lived from sea to shining sea, home is no longer where the heart is. More like, home is where the heart… is broken.
Think-tank Brookings estimates that net migration in America for 2025 was negative 295,000… meaning more people were leaving the fruited plains than arriving.
The obvious reason for this is The Big Reason: political. We all know what that is, so we will just skip over that because talking about it causes much anger, angst, and consternation.
Then again, on a research mission last year to the Portuguese island of Madeira, I met two retired American couples who fled the US in recent years. One couple is hard-core Trump; the other is hard-core anti-Trump.
So, clearly, there’s more at play than White House antics.
There’s America’s rapidly fraying social fabric.
There’s the cost-of-living in America that is spiraling ever higher.
Gun violence is beyond the pale, yet politicians refuse to address it beyond thoughts and prayers.
There are rising healthcare costs. Medical bankruptcies that are racing higher in America. Not to mention the government’s head-scratching take on health and healthcare…
Then, there’s Uncle Sam’s monstrous debt. Though I suspect no one is leaving America because governmental debt will cross $40 trillion this year, the debt does have an impact in that it ultimately weakens the dollar (pushing up inflation at the margin) and threatens to cause a fiscal crisis that will rip through American families.
So it is, then, that The Wall Street Journal published this: “The new American dream, for some of its citizens, is to no longer live there.”
Where might American citizens be headed, you might be wondering?
All the usual spots, and then some…
- Portugal: 500% growth in Americans living here since pre-COVID. Family relocations have tripled since 2024.
- Ireland: 40,000 Americans landed Irish passports in 2025. 10,000 have made the move to the Isle of Guinness (though Kilkenny and Smithwick’s are better beers).
- Spain: Roughly 50,000 Americans now chase tapas here, up 25% or so in the last two years.
- Mexico: One of the leading destinations for Americans, and residency applications are spiking.
- Canada: Upwards of 15,000 new American expats have invaded—mainly heading to Vancouver and Toronto.
The unexpected spots:
- Germany: More Americans moved to Germany last year than Germans moving to America.
- Greece: Has become one of the top destinations for Americans, particularly because of tax schemes that reduce taxes on expats by as much as 50% for the first seven years.
- Southeast Asia: Bali and Thailand, in particular, have seen an influx of Americans, primarily because costs are so low relative to the US, but quality of life is high and a sense of overall happiness is as pervasive as palm trees.
Albania: The emerging hotspot, which you might recall from an International Living cover story I wrote on Americans moving and retiring to the Adriatic country last year. But I will quote the recent Wall Street Journal story:
On a conference call last month hosted by Expatsi, a relocation company, almost 400 Americans signed up to learn how to move to Albania. The former Stalinist state offers a special visa allowing U.S. citizens to live and work there, with no tax on foreign income for a year, no questions asked.
“Previously, the Americans leaving were super-adventurous and well-credentialed,” said Expatsi founder Jen Barnett, a 54-year-old Alabama native who moved to Yucatán, Mexico, in 2024.
“Now they’re ordinary people, like me,” she said as she ticked through growth numbers. In 2024 the company organized three group scouting trips for clients; this year it will be 57, she said: “Our goal is to move one million Americans.”
Every American alighting on foreign shores has a different story to tell… a different reason for bidding adieu to the Red, White, and Blue.
But whatever the reasons, leaving America is clearly the trend.
And the dream.
A Gallup poll last year found that one in five Americans wanted to leave the country. In 2008, amid the financial crisis, it was one in 10.
I left America in 2018—chasing a dream job and seeking new excitement and a chance to rebuild my life and my finances after a divorce.
Nearly eight years on, I can say with assurance that moving to Europe—first to the Czech Republic and then to Portugal, where I now live—was one of the best decisions of my life. I’m happier, healthier, wealthier, far more relaxed, and enjoying far more adventures and new experiences that keep my mind active and engaged as I move into my 60s now.
The only regret: I didn’t make the move sooner.
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