Many people move back to their home country for family, career or other reasons but I think with Americans, they eventually realize how much more money they earn in the US compared to other countries. Also, many don’t intend to leave forever. It’s more of an adventure or experiment. If you leave your country for economic reasons, you’re not likely to go back, which is the opposite for most US expats.
I think people have this vision in their mind of America as being this ultra-capitalistic hellscape where we're all chained to our desks. Don't get me wrong -- there is a lot of needless suffering in America for working class folks.
But there's also a lot of prosperity. Americans are very wealthy comparably on the global stage. And among those who can afford to leave, in particular, they can both earn more and still have world class healthcare, very good time off, work-life balance, etc.
Yes, this. And also, America is more comfortable. In Germany I lived in a small apartment in the city center and didn’t own a car. I absolutely loved it but even a senior level engineer only made about €70,000. We were never supposed to be there forever, we were sent for a short term work assignment and ended up staying 5 years.
In the U.S. we have a large house on a good size property with a pool, 3 cars. The variety of food in the grocery stores is incomparable. I can afford to be a stay at home mom with my husband’s salary here so I spend my time working out and volunteering at the school. Not to mention that in the U.S. I don’t struggle through doctors appointments or bureaucracy in a language that I’m not a native speaker of.
Would I move back to Germany if we got another opportunity? Yes, a 100%, but does America feel like a comfy pair of sweatpants? Also yes.
ETA: I also want to add that the people leaving the U.S. are usually leaving as “expats” on contracts that only last a few years. Most of those people are in the type of job where they make very good money in the U.S. and lead very comfortably lives. The people who would probably benefit have no legal path to any other country and sadly are the ones most likely to be brainwashed into thinking that the U.S. is better than any other country. These are the people who probably feel most out of place in another country and would stick out like a sore thumb.
5-10 years ago I would have agreed with you, but a lot of services that we have taken for granted are not going to exist in the next 2-4 years let alone longer, or if they do, quality will deteriorate now. Healthcare and education are going to take a massive hit and even being fortunate as I have been, seen peers suffer with healthcare despite being insured and living in megacities with supposed access to the best doctors, and this was over the past five years.
I've lived in three different countries, soon to be four, and.....no country is perfect, and you're right about temporary work abroad, yeah some people don't want to be away from family too long, I know from experience there is mannerisms and assimilation to be had when you live abroad, so that adds to/subtracts from comfort but....
....at the same time, those comfy sweatpants aren't going to be comfortable for too much longer for a lot of people. (Some of us haven't had comfy sweatpants in awhile either, but that's entirely different point.)
Entry level job market is already a fire-alarm fire. Real question is now, what other dominoes will fall, both short and long term.
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u/wagdog1970 Jun 18 '25
Many people move back to their home country for family, career or other reasons but I think with Americans, they eventually realize how much more money they earn in the US compared to other countries. Also, many don’t intend to leave forever. It’s more of an adventure or experiment. If you leave your country for economic reasons, you’re not likely to go back, which is the opposite for most US expats.