The New American Dream: Moving To Europe

Hello and welcome to our March video essay here on the financial diet where

we are finally answering the question

that has long been on my mind

and maybe some of yours with the increasing rates in

which Americans are fleeing the country,

which is is Europe really better than America?

That's the question we're answering.

Okay, so our live real-time poll of one French person,

one American person says it's complicated on this side

and I've never been to America.

I don't know if I'd go right now politically, which is more than fair.

All that is to say we're going to dive deep not just on whether

or not America is really better

or worse than some of these countries

that we tend to idolize

and yes,

I'm very aware that Europe is not a country.

It is indeed a let's just say geopolitical establishment made up of many disparate

countries,

some of which really don't even like

or have anything to do with each other.

But for the purposes of making this video not 17 hours long,

we're going to generalize a little bit here and there.

But in addition to asking ourselves, is Europe actually better than America,

which is an interesting question

and I'm sure many of you will be popping off in the comments accordingly.

We're also going to talk about Americans fleeing the country,

which is increasingly the case

and something that I think is worth diving into both

when we are moving to places like France where I am currently

and have been for a long time to ride around on little bicycles,

a little scarf around their neck

and a little baguette sticking out of the basket of

that bike and just having a lovely foodoo-fafa time.

And when they are going to lower cost of living countries

and taking their strong American dollars

and digital nomad jobs along with them

and the impact that

that might have on the countries

that they're going to.

We're going to talk about it all.

So, I just want to say a side note.

I was saying this to my husband the other day,

nothing is more delightful to me than

when I see a French person carrying around a baguette.

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In order to get into this topic in the way

that I want to

and we are actually not going to have additional interviews for this one expert

interviews because we actually worked with a dear friend of mine who heavily heavily

helped us research and put this together.

She my dear friend Jihan shoutout to you if you're watching.

Love you girl.

But she is not only someone who has immigrated twice now from Morocco to

Canada and then from Canada here to France has dealt with all sides of

the immigrant experience and what

that means in North America,

what that means in Europe,

what that means coming from a country like Morocco and so forth,

but it's also historically worked in the NGO space

and in the geopolitical space

so has just a lot to add in terms of a lot of the

subjects that we're going to talk about here.

So although she's not interviewed in real time,

her fingerprints are all over this script

and she has made it in my opinion infinitely more legitimate.

And let me warn you

that we're going to be reading a lot of stats

and numbers in this script

because this is a subject

that I know people feel very passionately about

and I don't want this to be based on vibes.

I want this to be based on reality.

But before we get into the stats of it all,

we're going to have to talk about the vibes of it all,

which is to say my experience moving to France.

So I'm going to take you all the way back 15 years ago now,

more than 15 years ago now, to when I, your girl,

your intrepid captain on the SS Financial Diet herself moved to France.

So let me set the scene

when I moved to France just over 15 years ago.

Obama was president, the dollar was extremely weak

which was hitting my pockets particularly hard,

and I had a Tumblr called Poor in the 16th.

Now, why?

It was because I was

then at my most broke

and I had come to France

because the private DC universities where I was accepted after attending community college in

the US barely offered me scholarships.

So therefore getting a degree in France would have been about 1/30 of the

price that it would be in the US,

especially because I could take classes in French.

For context, I've actually spoken French since I'm pretty young.

I even started learning with my Quebecois grandmother as a kid.

One of the only cousins from my generation to have done that,

so I'm very proud of my former self for taking the initiative,

but I was broke

as hell and I was living in the 16th arrondissement of Paris,

which is notoriously one of the most affluent

and old money style neighborhoods

because I was working full-time

as an au pair for a French family to support myself

while going to school.

And fun fact, I am still dear friends with my old host mother

and I recently had dinner with my old au pair kids,

one of whom is now a full foot taller than me.

I don't accept that.

And on my third month here in France, I met my now husband.

Fun fact, we actually met on OKCupid

because I had rebooted my OKCupid account in order to write an article about

what dating apps were like in France.

It wasn't even an app at the time,

it was a website and he was basically the only French person on it.

He claims that he was on there to meet quote unquote English speaking partners.

I think we all know that that's a lie,

that's a farce and but you know, he did.

He met an English speaking partner and a wife.

We also lied to his family for years

and said that we met at a Starbucks

because he comes from a pretty old-fashioned French farming family on one side who

just at the time in 2011,

they really didn't understand what dating websites were

and we just felt a little embarrassed.

I mostly felt embarrassed.

I made him lie and say we met at the Starbucks.

But then we came clean to everyone and said no,

we didn't meet at a Starbucks, we met on OKCupid and they were like,

what's that?

I I think the moral of

that story is lie until it feels better to not lie,

I don't know.

Also, I don't think Starbucks is really that much more chic than OKCupid.

But anyway, I was I was young and dumb.

So, we have been together ever since.

It'll be our 15th dating anniversary in just a couple weeks now

and we've been married since 2018.

Shout out to us.

We moved to New York at the end of 2013,

which was a new place for both of us,

but with great opportunities for both of our careers

and he got his green card in 2022 after much extremely stressful back

and forth with immigration,

which I don't have time to get into,

but have talked about in other videos.

Let's just say COVID was very rough for both of us for more than

the normal reasons.

Also, at the end of last year, I became a French citizen through marriage.

I'm still waiting on my new passport, but I am registered to vote,

so can't wait to start up politically here in France, too.

And for the past several years,

we have increasingly split our time between France and the US,

now averaging out at roughly half of the US, half in France,

where I currently am.

Now, this is obviously a very privileged life to live,

but it's also a priority for us to spend our lives with both very

important sides of our life

and our friends and our family.

And it's also one of the primary reasons

that we decided not to have children,

so that we can do this.

But today, the tone of Americans moving abroad has distinctly changed.

When I moved to France, again, smack in the middle of the Obama era,

America was a pretty damn aspirational place.

We were out of our George Bush flop era,

and we were seeming like a new beacon of Western progressivism.

When I moved back to the states to go work in New York,

as a writer no less, okay Carrie Bradshaw,

friends and family in France were understanding, they were supportive, and most of all,

pretty jealous.

America was, and still is in some ways that we will discuss,

a land of unprecedented professional opportunity, but back then, it also had serious rizz.

It was the early 2010s, recession pop was everywhere, gay marriage was getting passed,

weed was becoming legal, our president read fiction, he had an annual Spotify playlist,

we'd not even yet reached peak woke.

Cut to 2026, and leaving America more often has an air of will the

lifeboats be seated according to class,

hopping off a sinking ship

that no longer carries even the tenuous cultural capital of the Obama era.

Even with its many problems, and we're not going to get into it here,

but we will link you to a video essay on

that topic if you're interested.

But even though we are perhaps received, and rightfully so,

with less open arms now,

there is a growing trend of Americans ditching the US for greener pastures.

Quote, "The United States experienced negative net migration in 2025,

with more people leaving than arriving for the first time in 90 years,

and the trend is expected to continue, according to a report.

The last time the phenomenon occurred was in 1935 at the height of the

Great Depression when more than 100,000 Americans struggling to make ends meet applied to

emigrate to the Soviet Union to work in its factories,

manufacturing plants, and mills in pursuit of a fairer way of life.

Now, I should say

that now more than ever life abroad

as an American is something generally only the wealthy can realistically afford,

and we'll get to that in a bit.

But, it is increasingly something that people dream about,

especially to heavily romanticized places like the aforementioned Western Europe.

And I am not trying to diminish the desirability of moving abroad,

especially as someone who has done it, who is married to a non-American,

who is a dual citizen,

and who spends plenty of her time in one of those Western countries

that are often thought of

as being so much more fabulous than America.

I also don't want to downplay how much moving abroad can be a part

of taking back power for certain people in the US.

The Blackxit trend, for instance,

which has become increasingly popular and visible on places like social media,

is a powerful way for Black Americans in particular to return to ancestral homelands

or to reclaim their own global mobility,

but we'll get to more on that later.

But, when we actually break it down and look at the data,

we have to ask ourselves,

is life in these other places that we are leaving America for,

especially places like Western Europe, really that much better?

And what is the impact of

so many Americans leaving on the places they're headed to?

And kind of more generally, is the new American dream to leave it?

To answer these questions, we first have to talk about chapter one.

Are people actually leaving?

Spoiler alert, the answer is yes.

These days it feels like every other influencer hitting your For You page is

someone with an account that's like,

"So-and-so, American in such-and-such a country."

They're either quitting their jobs to travel the globe

or taking their digital nomad profession with them,

showing you the step-by-step process of leaving,

or catching up with you when they've already moved.

Although, in typical American fashion,

not all of them are really taking the time to learn the new language.

And this isn't just a social media phenomenon, by the way.

The numbers are very real.

As we just discussed, the trend of leaving the US is seeing record numbers,

including as it pertains to giving up US citizenship altogether.

Now, it's hard to put to exact numbers the amount of Americans who are

leaving for a few reasons.

The US government does not track immigration.

Many Americans abroad do not register with embassies.

Dual citizens are harder to track.

There are no mandatory registration systems for Americans living overseas.

But all of that said,

the AARO or Association of Americans Resident Overseas estimates

that about 5.5 million Americans live abroad

as of October 2024.

However, we can point to a concrete surge in Americans renouncing their citizenship,

making a declarative statement

that they no longer care about having the option of returning.

4,820 Americans renounced their citizenship in 2024, a 48% increase from 2023.

In fact, the period of 2020 to 2024 saw 21,027 renunciations,

representing 39% of all expatriations since the IRS began reporting in 1996.

And these numbers may also be understated because, quote, it only captures the wealthy.

Those with fewer assets are not listed, even if they have officially renounced.

The IRS only reports, quote,

covered expatriates who have a net worth of over $2 million

or who paid more than $178,000 annually in taxes over the past 5 years,

meaning that the real numbers are significantly higher than reported.

So, who are the people who are likely renouncing citizenship

but not getting reported on?

They are not the ultra-wealthy tax avoiders.

Many are middle-income earners,

and the majority are long-time Americans living abroad who already hold another nationality.

I should also say, on the tax tip,

America has a pretty unique taxation system for its citizens living abroad,

even those with dual citizenship.

We'll link you to an explainer below, but basically,

rich people who live in other countries are really not incentivized to keep their

American citizenship if they want to keep their taxes low,

because America will always tax you on the difference between what you pay in

your current country of residence

and what you would have paid,

so you basically get got a double tax.

You also have to file every It like it's a whole headache,

but generally speaking, you'll notice also

that this spike in 2020 to 2024 is not necessarily correlating with our current

political moment.

It's more correlating with rich people who want to lower their taxes seeing

that those taxes are possibly getting even higher.

That's a total side note though.

But in addition to all the people who are actually leaving,

um who are actually renouncing their citizenship and so on,

we are also in the midst of what we're calling an intention surge.

More and more Americans are interested in the idea of moving to another country,

which we can tell simply by looking at polling and search terms.

As of February 2025,

42% of Americans have considered or plan to relocate outside the US.

And since the 2024 election,

Google searches for terms related to migration and relocation have risen by over 1500%.

Yes, 1500, not 150.

And when we break that down by generation,

it seems like the younger you are,

the more over it of an attitude you have towards America. 63% of Gen

Z has considered moving abroad versus only 52% of Millennials

and 35% of Gen X

and 26% of Boomers.

And I want to say, if you are a frequent viewer of this channel,

you probably have some more politically driven reasons why you think

that this might be the case,

but I think it's very important to state that,

especially when we look at other combined trends,

we cannot uniquely chalk this up to being a difficult political moment in the

US,

although it also is.

Simply put, the American dream

that used to be such a motivator for young people

and drive them to want to stay in the country is really no longer

a thing.

And for many people who are looking to leave,

it is just as much for economic reasons

as it was many years ago for immigrants who were coming through Ellis Island,

which brings us to chapter two, the new American dream, leaving question mark?

When you look at the top reasons Americans have for considering a move abroad,

it feels like they're still looking for what the American dream was supposed to

promise,

but now looking for it elsewhere.

Historically, emigration to America has been driven by greater economic opportunity,

but it's undeniable that this opportunity, which is always to some extent been overstated,

has significantly diminished in recent years, especially for lower-income people.

We have more economic inequality

and less class mobility than nearly every other developed country.

We have no free health care, we have paltry retirement coverage,

and a general feeling that if you didn't already win the economic lottery,

usually at birth, you're probably not going to win it in your lifetime.

And for those wondering,

here are the top reasons that recent American emigrants have given for leaving,

according to an American Expat's poll.

You'll notice here that lower living expenses is the top reason at 49%.

And while there are also politically motivated reasons cited here, and to be clear,

economics are also downstream of politics,

most of the acute reasons listed are directly economic in nature.

And I want to say, as someone who came here during the previous administrations,

most of these problems being cited,

like high cost of living and no universal health care,

were also still very much an issue then.

And according to Dr.

Lynn Bufka, head of practice at the American Psychological Association, quote,

"Many young adults are facing a combination of financial stress, political division,

and uncertainty about the future.

They've come of age during a time marked by crises, a global pandemic,

climate anxiety, and economic challenges."

And according to Libby Rodney, Chief Strategy Officer at The Harris Poll, quote,

"The American dream is evolving into the expat dream.

As social media fills with stories of Americans building high-quality lives abroad,

more people are getting curious.

They're not just imagining greener pastures, they're actively exploring new countries, researching locations,

and planning strategic relocations."

Speaking of The Harris Poll,

here's some more stats from some of their recent polling

that gives you a little bit of an idea of how Americans are feeling,

if you weren't already feeling this way yourself.

Another big reason behind the desire to move abroad, though,

is civil liberties for certain minority groups,

especially in light of policy and culture shifts from the 2024 election, and honestly,

even before that.

According to data from Nasdaq,

67% of LGBTQ+ Americans believe that their rights are becoming compromised,

78% amongst Gen Z, and 58% of American women fear growing restrictions,

including 64% amongst millennial women and 77% amongst black women specifically.

And while the American dream in theory is meant to promise

that you will have a better standard of living than your parents' generation

and that you will be rewarded for working hard,

Americans increasingly don't believe

that. 75% of Americans reporting

that they are more stressed about the future than they used to be.

We also live in an increasingly isolated and atomized society,

which is often one of the most compelling reasons for people to move to

a different country. 54% of Americans polled have reported feeling isolated,

part of our larger loneliness epidemic,

but also surely driven by a lot of the particulars of how America is

set up.

Most places outside of large cities, for example, being totally dependent on cars,

physically distant from neighbors, and completely devoid of third spaces.

You'll notice when you look at lists of places where Americans are most moving

or expressing a desire to want to move to,

they are places that have tighter-knit communities, more third spaces, more walkability,

and generally less of a loneliness and isolation crisis.

But point being, if a country is repeatedly telling you

that it's a meritocracy

or the land of prosperity

or the greatest country on Earth,

lol, but we are increasingly feeling, knowing in practice,

that this is not the case,

it makes total sense that people would want to leave.

It also would not be a chapter about the economic reasons for leaving

if we did not specifically drill down into health care.

It's worth noting that many of the countries where people are moving,

especially the lower cost of living countries where the dollar is much stronger,

uh do not have comprehensive health care, especially for immigrants,

but if you're talking about a relatively lateral move to another high cost of

living country,

basically all of them except America have some form of universal health care.

And it's always worth repeating

that even the the of life-destroying medical debt is uniquely an American phenomenon.

The US spent roughly $14,885 per person on healthcare in 2024,

about 17.6% of GDP, which is roughly twice as much as Europe.

And 36% of US adults skipped care due to cost in 2025 versus only

3.6% of EU adults.

US healthcare prices are among our main drivers of high costs, not their utilization.

And while Europe does have longer waits for most elective procedures,

the USA rations them through price barriers.

And there are also other non-healthcare related reasons for wanting to leave,

again amongst targeted minority groups in the US.

Not that it doesn't overlap with healthcare, too, of course.

As I mentioned in the intro, the quote blackxit trend is growing.

Quote, "We are the descendants of the scattered,

and we're choosing to scatter on purpose this time in power."

Compared to the description of the Great Migration, quote,

"It is becoming increasingly clear

that there is no corner of the United States where it is safe to

be black." said Kristen West Savali in Essence magazine in 2020.

At least 1,500 black Americans moved to Ghana, for example,

in 2019 to 2023, which is the most popular African destination currently,

and 524 received Ghanaian citizenship in a November 2024 ceremony.

Other top destinations for the so-called blackxit include South Africa, Kenya, Portugal,

and Costa Rica.

But what is somewhat economically significant about the current push for Americans to move

abroad,

and yes, there are some exceptions to this,

but I am talking about overall trends,

is that it is statistically the least economically impacted by America's current situation who

are most likely to be able to emigrate,

especially as a so-called expat.

In part because it is extremely expensive and time-consuming to move abroad,

and finding income in a new country generally either requires bringing money

or work with you,

as in the case of digital nomads or financially independent people,

or it requires you to find a job in your new home country,

which is often extremely limited to exclusive high-earning positions

because the employer usually has to prove to the government

that they couldn't find a local to do the job,

as is the case in France.

You could also technically move as the partner of a spouse,

but often that means that you are not personally entitled to work,

which is frankly very,

very expensive on the person who is earning the money in this scenario,

and therefore requires a high level of income to bring a family along with

you.

Generally speaking, therefore, people emigrating from the US are going to be disproportionately educated,

more financially flexible, and from a higher social class than those who are staying

behind.

Hence the will the lifeboats be seated according to class of it all.

The people fleeing the ship are generally speaking the people who are already able

to get a seat on the lifeboats.

This is a complete digression that I will give only 10 seconds to,

but I just want to say this is like I don't consider myself an

expat,

I still live the majority of the year in the US, love the US,

stand the US.

Um, I'm not going to like you'll you'll take it out of my cold

dead hands is the way I feel,

and also I'm a New Yorker, I'm from Mondanistan,

so like I I live in my own little bubble, love it there, um,

and I'm like I don't know,

committed to making America a better place

because I want all Americans to get

so much of what I feel like I get out of America,

but something that like really bothers me with like the affluent expat crowd in

a lot of countries.

I see it obviously here a lot in France is A,

they treat they're like, "Oh my god, I can't believe you live there still."

Which is like, "Shut up.

Shut up, you obnoxious whatever."

Second of all, is these people could not care less about doing anything to

help all of the other people who are still stuck back in America.

They're just like, "Well, I got mine.

Bye."

And I'm like, "How dare you?"

Like you amongst all people had the most privilege to help the situation.

You can still very much help

and be a part of the solution from abroad

if you need to.

The fact that you just like have completely given up and you're like, "Ooh,

look at that mess."

Like I I truly have no patience for it.

It pisses me off more than almost anything else in my life.

Digression ended.

But on that note, we need to move to our next chapter,

which is the expat versus the immigrant.

When Americans move abroad,

they often tend to identify with the term expat rather than immigrant,

And there's no denying that there are specific demographic associations with those designations,

especially in terms of social class and race.

And this goes double for the niche influencer economy of Americans in X,

because generally speaking, when you watch their journey to move abroad

and set up a new life,

it's usually more Emily in Paris and less Children of Men.

And this isn't a new dichotomy.

Here's an excerpt from a 2014 article in the Wall Street Journal about expats

versus immigrants in Hong Kong.

Quote, "Some arrivals are described as expats, others as immigrants,

and some simply as migrants.

It depends on social class, country of origin, and economic status.

It's strange to hear some people in Hong Kong described

as expats but not others.

Anyone with roots in a Western country is considered an expat,

while Filipino domestic helpers are just guests, even if they've been here for decades.

Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese are rarely regarded as expats.

It's a double standard woven into the official policy."

Complete side note, but one of my favorite novels of all time is called

The Expats.

It's kind of about this phenomenon and it's set in Hong Kong.

Highly recommend.

And it's important to note

that the experience of being an expat is largely defined by the fact

that the people who have the time,

money, flexibility, and just mental bandwidth to jump through the hoops required of moving

to another country are already going to be in a pretty privileged position,

as we just discussed.

As someone who moved here initially seeking a visa on my own terms

and who has since gone through the entire process of naturalization through marriage,

I can tell you that these are extremely complicated,

extremely time-consuming processes um that often require the help of a lawyer,

that often require uh being able to take time to like travel to embassies

and consulates to follow up on appointments

that in the middle of a work day,

that require tons of money for all of the various aspects of the visa

and then eventually,

in our case, green card, but in other cases, citizenship process.

And oftentimes, the visas that you're able to receive only last for a year,

maybe a few years, and then you have to start everything over again.

Like my memories of living in France the first time I did it

when I was on a student worker visa were just like endless time spent

in like government waiting rooms basically like having to spend 6-7 hours seated in

some random chair while I waited for my number to be called

so that one person could like stamp a piece of paper

and then often all

that meant was that I had to take this piece of paper to another

government bureau so that another person could stamp it after 6 hours of wait.

Like yes, it's expensive, yes,

it can often mean a ton of legal

and professional hoops to get through

if you're even able to qualify for a visa,

but it also is just like an enormous enormous time suck

that most people don't have the bandwidth for.

It's always worth repeating,

but only about 50% of Americans even have a valid passport.

So if you're already going through the step of not just having

that valid passport,

but using it to get a longer term resident visa somewhere,

like you are a minority of a minority.

And I will also say having gone through the experience

when I had basically no disposable income

and was navigating everything myself the first time versus going everything again

when you can actually hire lawyers to help you go through the process

and have enough money to throw at the problem is wildly different,

night and day different.

Like our lawyers have helped

so much through the process of getting my citizenship

and are about to do the same on the other side

because Mark would like to go eventually from green card to American citizen

as well.

Like just on every level the experience is so stratified by class.

It's also worth noting

that increasingly one of the ways

that people are moving abroad,

especially in this post-COVID era, not to say we're out of COVID,

but since COVID has been happening,

is specifically through these quote-unquote digital nomad jobs and their attached visas.

So for reference, 66 countries offer digital nomad visas as of December 2025,

and there are 40 million plus digital nomads worldwide with about 18.1 million Americans.

And yes, that means nearly half of all worldwide digital nomads are American.

The typical duration of these visas is about 6 to 24 months, usually renewable.

And digital nomad visas also have specific income requirements ranging anywhere from 1,500 to

4,500 euros a month.

And here are some of the most popular digital Nomad visas to give you

an idea of what it takes

or took since many of these programs no longer exist thanks to countries becoming

overburdened with expats,

but more on that shortly.

You can see some of the country by country breakdown here on the screen

with places like Estonia requiring 4,500 euro a month of provable income,

the highest in Europe, and Columbia requiring about 750 a month,

which is the cheapest globally.

There are also hubs in Central and South America, in Asia.

For example, Thailand has the Flexible Destination Thailand visa,

which is renewable up to 5 years

and allows for remote workers

and freelancers and long-term tourists to live in popular hubs like Bangkok

or Chiang Mai.

Japan also launched a 6-month non-renewable visa with a minimum income requirement equivalent to

about 60 to 65,000 US dollars a year depending on the current exchange rate.

In Africa, you have places like South Africa requiring about 54,000 US dollars a

year or the Middle East where the UAE/Dubai requires about 3,500 dollars a month

and offers no income tax for 1 year.

And on top of these digital Nomad visas,

which are generally hard to get because these jobs are hard to get overall,

there are also a lot of people who have other loopholes for how they

manage to live abroad.

For example, a lot of countries don't even require you to have active income.

They just require you to prove a certain amount of assets.

So, people who already have things like generational

or inherited wealth or who have married into wealth may be able to move

just based on that alone.

They may also be grandfathered into certain nationalities through family ties.

And a lot of what you're seeing

when you're seeing people displaying their fabulous moving abroad stories online is often leaving

out a lot of

that crucial context.

It's also clear that the profile of the average American expat skews a certain

way.

While they may not be the highest earners around,

they have the types of jobs that give them mobility.

Here's an interactive map of USA expats.

And the typical American who moves abroad is highly educated,

90% plus of them having a bachelor's degree.

They're middle income overwhelmingly.

They're overwhelmingly aged 25 to 54.

They work remotely with about 67% in tech, 48% in finance.

And they're also disproportionately Asian or white.

With Asian workers teleworking about 2.6 times more on average than for example Hispanic

workers.

The bottom line is

that education is generally the strongest predictor

when it comes to opening up specific opportunities

as well as the kind of lifestyle

that allows you to have mobility between countries.

There are also retirees living abroad,

but it is increasingly young people who are more desirous of moving abroad

and more able to

while in their working years.

So when we talk about overall trends, it's more about young people.

But one of the downsides of so-called digital nomads is the subject of our

next chapter.

Digital nomads, colonialism for the 21st century.

So when you have any influx of a specific cohort of people,

obviously that's going to have an impact on the local area they're arriving to.

And I would argue

that the rise in digital nomadism is making an impact for the worst in

many places,

at least when it comes to the local economies

and quality of life for the people who already live in those places.

First, let's look at the numbers.

There are around 43 million digital nomads worldwide

as of 2025 to 2026 with 18.5 million of them being Americans.

The average digital nomad earns about $124,720 a year

and 79% earn over $50,000 a year.

Let's look at Portugal for example,

which has become one of the biggest places for American expats thanks to the

relative ease of their visa process.

Americans now make up more than 30% of Portuguese golden visa applicants

and many will likely be pursuing EU citizenship.

However, the Portuguese themselves are the ones paying the price.

Median housing valuation for example surpassed 2,000 per square meter for the first time

ever in October 2025.

Portugal experienced the steepest housing price increase in the EU with about 17% year-over-year

in Q2 2025.

Housing prices have more than doubled since 2010,

especially concentrated to places like Lisbon where these digital nomads tend to congregate.

And although Portugal on average has much lower salaries

and purchasing power than the US digital nomads who are moving there,

it is still among the higher-income countries where Americans are moving

and also benefits from being an EU member country.

If you want to talk about the real negative impact of digital nomad culture

on some of the places where they are settling,

it's relevant to look at Mexico City as a bit of a case study.

So, Mexico is actually the top country for Americans moving abroad for reasons

that are probably not hard to understand.

It's close to the US, it's beautiful often year-round,

and it's relatively inexpensive for someone living on US dollars.

This is a total digression,

but the woman who taught me Spanish lived in Mexico City for years

and I went to go visit her years ago.

And even just noticing the difference in Mexico City from like the five years

between the two times

that I have gone was really shocking.

Just like the prevalence of English, English being spoken everywhere,

English writing on like all of the businesses,

and just like clearly a lot of businesses

that are specifically catered to digital nomads.

Like, it was already quite prevalent when I went back in, I think, 2021,

but it has just like completely exploded since.

One woman's observation.

But, looking at the data, about 1.6 million Americans currently live in Mexico.

And Americans applying for residency visas surged from 17,800 in 2019 to well over

30,000 in 2022.

And that has continued to climb.

Housing inflation was at about 122% in 2025 versus only 24% in 1995.

And it's also worth noting that many, if not most,

of these digital nomads who are moving to places like Mexico City,

in addition to heavily disrupting the local economy with their extremely strong American dollar

paid jobs that locals can't compete against,

they're also not even bothering to learn the language

and coming in with an enormous level of condescendence about Mexican culture.

You guys may have missed it.

I think the guy actually responsible for this was British,

but I'm like very plugged into Mexican Tik Tok

and like there was like a huge controversy recently

because this British guy like opened a bakery

and he did this horrible podcast interview where he was like Mexican bread is

disgusting.

Like they just don't have bread culture here.

Like I'm here to bring bread culture to Mexico.

And of course this man has been like completely flamed off the internet

and I hope he leaves Mexico City cuz he's like how dare you?

But also like even if there wasn't like the enormous economic imbalance,

there's also the fact that overwhelmingly we're seeing and this is not just Americans,

it's a huge problem with English speakers,

but moving to places for extended periods of time

if not indefinitely and not even bothering to learn the local language

and expecting the culture to cater to you.

Huge pet peeve, moving on.

We're also seeing more of the same in the South Pacific for example where

digital nomad populations have grown 30% by 2023.

Bali in particular had 6.3 million international visitors in 2024,

up 19% year-over-year.

And now digital nomads make up a full 20% of Bali's long-term rental market.

I'll close this chapter by just saying I've never been to Tulum,

so I don't have an opinion on it,

but I've heard it on credible authority

but that these digital nomads in particular have absolutely destroyed Tulum any semblance of

charm or culture that it had.

Sound off in the comments if that's true.

But now we must come to perhaps the most pressing question of this video,

which is is Europe really better than America?

Now we've gone over why leaving America has become the new American dream

and the impact that this is having on other countries,

which is that minimum often worsening vibes,

but we're still left with one major question to answer.

Is the grass always greener,

especially in these places like Western Europe

that we tend to over romanticize in the US?

Now amongst the same cohort of people who likely want to leave the US

and build a digital brand around doing

so,

there's often a prevalent line of thinking

that life in Europe

and maybe just Europeans

as people are just better than us.

And if there is a reason leaving America permanently

or at least semi-permanently has become a status symbol,

it's because of the lasting perception of Europe, Western Europe in particular,

as being more civilized, safe, slower-paced,

and where anyone can live a dignified life.

But, is that actually true?

So, we'll get into the actual stats in a minute,

but I do want to share my perspective on this question

as someone who is intimately familiar with both France,

which again is not representative of all of Western Europe,

but it is what I can speak to,

and the US because not only have I lived in both countries significantly,

I actively live in both countries significantly, I speak both languages fluently,

I have family, friends, and an entire life in both places.

I have experienced working in both countries, going to school in both countries,

dealing with administration in both countries, healthcare, everything you can name.

I feel like I have a very good experience in both.

And I feel like my answer on is it better to live in the

US or France is completely dependent on who you are

as a person and what you want out of life.

I want to say,

because I think a lot of people are sometimes surprised

that I like being a dual citizen now

and having the ability to live in France would still choose to live most

of the time in America.

I want to be very clear

that not only do I absolutely love New York.

Like, to me, I think New York is the greatest city I've ever been

to.

I cannot tell you how much on a day-to-day basis I feel really lucky

to live there.

I love my community there.

I have like my group chat of my neighborhood girlies

that we like get together all the time

and do so many activities.

There's just so much to do and see and be in New York City.

It's like I I would never ever ever say any I would never say

anything negative,

especially now that we have Zoran.

I'm just like I'm very proud to be a New Yorker.

I'm proud generally as a like I'm happy generally to be American.

I feel lucky to have been born there in many, many ways.

But, specifically New York, I just love the out of.

I also love a lot of other American cities.

Like, America's just it's in its flop era, no doubt,

but like very cool country, so much to say for it.

I wish it were better in in of ways.

But, I think there are benefits to both.

I think there is good stuff happening in both.

I will say this.

I am an entrepreneur, my husband is an entrepreneur.

We're both very entrepreneurially minded people.

If you are a very entrepreneurially minded person,

no question America is an easier place to do that.

For so many reasons, logistical, financial, experiential.

Like there's just like my husband,

he works in a very niche area of the tech sector

and like there isn't really much happening in in not just in France,

but in the whole of Europe.

Like there's infinitely more opportunity in in the US, also in increasingly in Asia.

Like there's just in terms of a lot of industries,

like the European economy is rather stagnant.

And especially as it pertains to entrepreneurship, startup culture, all of that.

Not saying it is without its faults.

It absolutely has its faults.

We see that all the time in America,

but like there are a lot of limitations to what you can do in

terms of business,

career, etc.

And even money to a certain extent in Europe.

That is just period true.

Like I think it's easier to hustle

and build over in America in a way

that it's not here.

Period.

I would also say something

that I have felt very strongly

and really don't like about France is

and a lot of Western Europe is this way is how rigid it is

around where you went to school

and your like professional

and academic especially qualifications.

Like me not having a college degree,

I never would have been able to work in a successful media career in

France.

You just like the people who get those jobs are

so few and far between

and they are all universally people who went to really good schools.

It's changing a tiny bit now with social media,

but for the most part like the good jobs are pretty few

and they go to very few like a very limited number of the population.

Like in France you have two systems.

You have the fact

which is like the general university

that anyone can go to

and then you have what's called grande ecole

which are like the great schools

that are usually in engineering

or business.

Those are like I think it's 5%.

Is it 5 Is it 5% of the population française?

It's 5% of the French population that go to these great schools,

but it is like 95% of the really good high paying jobs in France

are from people who went to those great schools,

except for like law and medicine because those are through the regular university system.

It's also worth noting

that like our perception

that French school being a complete meritocracy is also very inaccurate.

Like there's huge socioeconomic impacts on like what your school outcome is going to

be,

what your placement is going to be,

how you can even prepare for the kind of testing required for a lot

of these schools,

but also, especially when it pertains to business schools, these are paid schools.

Like many of my friends who went to business school,

their school was like 15, 20,000 euros a year,

not even necessarily including all of their costs.

So, not to say it's as expensive as American colleges on average,

but like socioeconomic status definitely plays a huge role in terms of the education

you're going to receive in France.

And once you are locked into that education bubble,

it really defines a lot of your career prospects

and your social status for the rest of your life in a way

that it doesn't in America.

My husband often refers to the fact

that if he hadn't come to America to advance his career,

he would have never had the kind of career he has just staying in

France because he only went to a top like five engineering school

and the kind of jobs

that he does are only for people who went to like the top two.

Ironically, I am literally staring at the entrance of the best engineering school in

all of France right now.

And like only people who went to like

that school and maybe one other have the best of the best jobs.

So, that's like another thing

that I think I really like

that in America you have more um ability to define yourself by who you

are and kind of what you're capable of on a practical basis

and less by your education.

Um it also feels like a less socially stratified like by caste society.

I would say that.

I would also say a lot of Western Europe and especially France,

and I've heard a lot of other Western countries have like

and Asia I'm sure

and all over the world.

I'm sure a lot of countries have this

that America doesn't have

as much as like a serious tall poppy syndrome problem where like

if you look different,

seem different, want to do something different,

want to like go above your social standing

or get a little too big for your britches.

I've heard it told that Irish culture is terrible about this.

If you want to do anything a little out there

or a little too much,

you are harshly judged

and people do not like it

and they will try to put you back in your place.

I've heard that time and time again and I have felt it enormously here.

Like I feel like in America, especially in places like New York,

like you can let your freak flag fly.

You can try for big things.

We reward people who take big risks

and go a little outside of the box

and I really like

that.

But on the flip side,

like I think that there's absolutely a quality of life here

that is really lovely.

Like obviously universal health care is part of that.

Food culture.

I actually think it's kind of a toss-up on food culture

as a New Yorker personally.

Like if you live in a big food-centric city in America,

I actually would probably lean more toward America just

because being a country of immigrants,

we have such a diverse food culture and culture generally.

But like especially when it comes to like food, art, music, et cetera,

like I really love being in a very diverse culture

as opposed to a monoculture.

I think especially like I don't usually spend most of my time in Paris,

which is the only place in France you can really get like a super

diverse food or cultural environment.

Even when you're out of those big cities,

like you're chicken and potatoes every damn day.

Like you're eating butter and bread, you're eating And it's nice,

don't get me wrong, but it's very repetitive.

Like we've all spent a week in Spain

and gotten out of there

and been like,

if I have to look at one more like olive oil dish

and like cured ham,

I'm going to, you know, kill myself.

But all of that is to say like I I think

that there's on average an ambiently higher quality of life here on many,

many levels.

But I also think

that there are being a monoculture also has a lot of downsides.

It also has a lot of downsides

when you combine the monoculture aspect with the tall poppy aspect.

Like being visually, visibly diverse in France is really tough.

Like, things like homophobia

and transphobia here can be very acute even in ways

that I personally perceive

as often being harsher

or more overt than in the US,

even if the rights are technically more advanced here.

Racism, xenophobia, huge problem in Western Europe.

Um France notably very much one of those places.

Please do not get it twisted.

Like, the far right here is very much on the rise.

I am very scared for what's going to happen here in 2027.

Like, who knows, but it's certainly not a paradise from like the sort of

social acceptance perspective.

Like, my best friend is um a trans woman and we talk a lot.

Like, she comes to spend time with us here quite a bit

and we talk a lot about her potentially moving here depending on how her

rights shake out in the US

and I try to be very measured in saying like,

"Yes, I think from a safety perspective it could get to the point where

it's better here,

but be prepared that like,

especially when you go outside of even certain neighborhoods in Paris,

like it is very acutely not an accepting society.

And being very visually different, especially in terms of things like gender conformity,

like can be actually quite dangerous

because people can be quite hostile about it in a very open way.

Because again, when you're from a monoculture

and from when you're a from a culture of conformity

and that is a high social priority is is conforming,

anything that stands out,

especially anything that threatens the norm is going to be very harshly perceived.

But yeah, I love both.

There's a I couldn't pick and I and I won't.

But moreover, I just think that for the average person,

do I think quality of life is probably better in a Western European country

if for no other reason than things like free health care

or mostly free health care

and overall like better food

and resources and like having like walkability.

That's a big one here is like walk but I don't again,

I live in New York so I my life is walkable regardless.

But like, I always put it this way.

My life feels very comparable,

like both good but both different in New York versus in most places in

Western Europe.

Could I say the same about like a suburban community in like Kansas that's

like entirely car-dependent and has like basically no infrastructure

or third spaces?

Absolutely not.

Then on every level, I would say you're better off here.

But again, there are just differences.

I also lastly want to say,

especially as it pertains to like the immigrant versus expat racism xenophobia thing,

my experience here as an immigrant or as a naturalized citizen of France,

as an affluent white woman from New York City,

is vastly different than the average immigrant to France.

And my like when you know,

cute white girls with TikToks come to France

and talk about how fabulous France is,

I'm like, yeah, no you think it's fabulous.

Like you're but you're fine in America.

Let's be clear about that one, girl.

Like we got to get our head on straight.

And like the woman that I mentioned who co-wrote the script with us,

who is very experienced with French immigration, shout out Shehan,

like she as a visibly Moroccan woman, as a Muslim woman,

like her experience coming to France,

and I won't get in I won't like spill her tea

and talk about all

that she's had to deal with here from an immigration perspective,

like her experience compared to mine, night and day.

So, I also don't think it's fair to ask an already affluent, already educated,

already white Christian whatever American from like an East Coast city or whatever,

whether they think it's better or worse in Europe.

It's like you are not the person to ask.

You're not really in the place to judge.

That was very long-winded, but I feel very passionately about this subject.

Moving along.

Actually, I'm going to say one last thing before I move on.

I don't want to hear word one out of any of your mouths about

which place is better

if you don't even speak the language of the other place.

Stop moving to these countries and talking about like, I'm, you know,

Christie in Italy or whatever, and you barely speak Italian.

Like learn the language if you're going to move somewhere.

You can only judge a place if you actually understand it.

I don't want to hear the opinions of people who don't even understand the

country that they're living in,

period.

That's the other thing I'm like,

if you could hear what these people around me are saying all the time,

you wouldn't like I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

But, it's true.

Okay, what is true?

But, we also must quickly address the fact that practically speaking,

there are a lot of benefits to living in a Western European country over

America.

For example, many of the LGBTQ+ top safe countries are in Europe with Malta

being ranked number one globally for LGBTQ+ rights.

Shout out Malta, question mark?

Iceland being number two or three, Belgium, Denmark, and Spain in the top five.

Norway, which has recently banned conversion therapy.

Germany has the self-determination act, which took effect in 2024.

But, one thing that the US has

that a lot of European countries do not is highly localized laws

and cultures.

For instance, eight blue states have received an A grade

when it comes to safety based on the prevalence of high legal protections

and low hate crime rates,

which is again why I always take the time to specify like me coming

from quote unquote America

when I come from New York City,

which is like a side note,

but as a business owner in New York City like 70% of my employees'

maternity leave is subsidized by the state of New York

so that they can take a a really long like there are

so many aspects of my day-to-day life in New York City

that are much closer to the average Western Europeans than they are to the

average Americans because we we like

that in New York.

We like having a lot of government benefits.

Also, additionally, Traveler has recently shared a study ranking New York City

as the third safest city in the world for queer

and trans people.

Compare that to Paris,

which only landed in 10th place on the list

and notably had the worst safety ranking of anywhere on the list.

That's the other thing about a lot of Europe, and I will say this,

I think that the reason we don't have

as much petty crime

and harassment in the US is

because we have guns

and people are afraid we'll kill each other

and we do kill each other at high rates,

but the street harassment

and petty crime in a lot of Western Europe can be out of control,

especially like in the south of France where I spend a lot of time.

Like there are certain cities where like you will just get your bag ripped

off of you constantly.

Like you have to be so careful about like using your phone in public,

using a laptop, like petty crime is out of control, side note.

But also street harassment.

Street harassment especially for like women, gender non-conforming people, visibly queer people,

out of control, period.

On another note, I would argue

that while many European countries have lower costs of living,

that is also coming with lower spending power

and it's why so many wealthy people love to move abroad

because when you have the kind of salary

that a lot of American companies pay,

moving abroad means that your dollar goes much further.

But that perceived cheapness is not the lived experience of many Europeans themselves.

At local market rates,

total employment costs in European cities like Berlin

or London are 26 to 48% below Seattle

or SF,

primarily due to lower base salaries.

The same job pays approximately 40% more in the USA versus Europe

and digital nomads are often being paid in dollars

while spending in euros.

Now, this doesn't mean European countries are cheaper per se.

It just means that they are cheaper for a very specific tiny segment of

the population.

Small note, but my husband had the same job

as a consultant as a management consultant

when we moved from France to the US

and his salary for the same exact job at the same exact company more

than doubled moving to the US.

And across a lot of Europe, unemployment rates are very high.

So, while the American dream mythologizes America as the land of opportunity,

it is easy to feel like

that is a load of BS

and in some ways it is.

But it's also important to look at the very real lack of opportunity in

other countries.

For example, the EU average youth unemployment rate is 15.1% with Spain landing at

a full 25.3%,

Sweden at 24.2, Italy at 20.6, Greece at 20.6,

and Finland at 22.3.

Compare that to the US where youth unemployment is about 10.8%

as of July 2025,

which is still high compared with previous years,

but significantly less than the European average.

And I will say this isn't scientific, but in my experience,

like the feeling of hopelessness amongst young people who have not found gainful employment

in Europe is extremely high,

especially when you're outside of big cities where basically all of the opportunity is

concentrated.

There's also the issue of taxes making your money go less far in Europe

with high income earners facing top tax rates of 60.5% in Denmark,

55.4% in France, and 55% in Austria.

By comparison, the USA average combined state and federal top rate is about 42%.

Me being a New York City resident, I'm basically paying European rates,

but I get a lot of European style benefits.

And this isn't to say that higher taxes, especially on the rich,

is a bad thing.

It is absolutely not,

but it is important to understand how that impacts people's not only purchasing power,

but also their perceived total compensation in a society

that is generally quite expensive to live in.

Europe is also not immune to things like housing crises.

Rents are surging dramatically across Europe, and yes,

part of that is due to things like the short-term rental market,

but there are also a lot of other factors bearing on this,

notably the fact that jobs are increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer European capitals.

So basically everyone has to move to a small handful of cities

if they want a decent paying job,

especially if they work in more niche industries.

There are also the enormous

and in my opinion increasing problems of things like prejudice,

anti-immigrant sentiment, racism,

and perhaps most relevantly in Europe and in places like France, Islamophobia in particular.

And it is frankly not my place to say whether those things are worse

or better in America

or in Europe.

I can go off of what some people I know say, which can vary,

also be very dependent on where you are in those places at any given

time.

But I say all of

that to say that this very over-romanticized ideal of what Europe is,

to be clear, not a thing, a huge amalgamation of different countries that, again,

often have very little to do with each other,

and many of which politically don't even want to be in a union together,

and what living in America means,

which can also be very different based on who you are, where you are,

and what you're doing.

It's also again most relevant to note

that the Americans who are likeliest to leave are the Americans who are likeliest

to least need it.

There are exceptions, but for the most part you're talking about people who are

already doing pretty well in the US,

and they're going to take their relatively strong,

very competitive dollar-based jobs to other economies,

often economies where their still relatively middle-class income can buy them an upper-class life.

Is the new American dream to leave it?

Maybe.

For young people, especially Gen Z, increasingly so.

But it's also important to remember

that many of the factors

that are bearing down on Gen Z's employment prospects

and economic hope,

things like AI getting rid of a lot of entry-level jobs,

are also a huge problem in other countries.

There's basically nowhere you can go to escape that reality.

At best, you can just delay it.

And it's also important to remember

that even if you do temporarily

or even indefinitely leave the US,

if you are amongst that very privileged cohort that had the money, time,

and resources to leave it,

it is also ethically your responsibility to keep making it a better place for

the people who are left behind,

often the most vulnerable people who are most impacted by the political policies you

might want to be leaving.

Emigration is not a new thing

and will continue to become more common

as travel becomes more accessible.

But there are more and less ethical ways to go about it,

and it's also never helpful to overly romanticize another place at the expense of

your own.

Is Europe better than America?

In some ways.

Does it have a lot of its own problems?

Absolutely.

Is your presence there

as someone who's bringing a big American paycheck

and not even bothering to learn the local language going to help those problems?

Not at all.

But as always, I am sure

that this is going to be a nuanced conversation

that leads to plenty of zesty debate in the comments.

I'm looking forward to talking with you guys down there.

All of the resources and more that we talked about in this video,

and I know there were a lot of them,

are all linked in the description.

And as always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you next month.

Ciao.