FAMILIES ARE RACING TO LEAVE THE US.
2025 saw a negative migration of up to 250,000 people last year! Meaning more people left than came.
That’s a trend that hasn’t happened since the time of the Great Depression.
MORE AND MORE FAMILIES ARE LEAVING THE US IN SEARCH OF A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.
Parents are looking for a safe place to raise their kids where:
❌ they aren’t being gouged by the cost of living,
❌ and they aren’t working so many hours that they can’t actually ever see their kids.
And that reality exists in a lot of the world.
Put simply: if you are considering moving your family out of the United States, you are in good company.
My husband and I moved our family of four out of the US in 2023 and we have been thriving abroad ever since.
💛Our daughters have relaxed into their childhood innocence,
🫱🏼🫲🏼my husband and I feel like we part of a community again, and
🥹we are investing in a country that we actually believe in.
LET’S TALK ABOUT WHY THERE ARE SO MANY FAMILIES MOVING ABROAD, AND WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO JOIN US!
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It Takes a Village to Raise a Child…but where are the Villagers?
The US has never felt more divided.
Neighbors hate each other. Communities fight over politics and human rights.
People seem to have completely forgotten the fact that we are in this together.
American parents want to:
✅consciously parent,
✅make enough money to secure their future,
✅and protect their mental and physical well-being,
😴but that seems to be more and more of an impossible task.
Parents feel tired, overwhelmed, and hopeless.
Most people are willing to work hard toward a goal, but grinding endlessly without any light at the end of the tunnel? No one wants to do that. 👎🏼
On top of that, many of our Boomer parents are still having to work because they can’t afford to slow down either! Which equates to multiple generations of overwhelmed and overworked adults.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but if all of the villagers are hustling just to cover their basic necessities, they are not going to have extra energy to support you as a parent.
PEOPLE IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ARE DESPERATE JUST TO SURVIVE.
So parents are on their own to navigate parenthood in the US.
The Cost of Living vs. The Cost of Childhood
Thanks to the internet, parents have more resources than ever about how to meet the needs of children.
We’re supposed to:
😭support their emotions,
🧚🏼enter into their worlds of make-believe play, and
🎨make sure their passions are nurtured.
But also– rent is due and that dental bill was unexpected so a few extra hours at day care will be needed this month to earn enough money to pay for everything.
So the month ends, the bills were barely paid and your child is now one month older and you barely got to enjoy him this month.
But there’s an alternative!
WHEN YOU CONSIDER FORFEITING THE AMERICAN RAT RACE, YOUR OPTIONS OPEN UP.
In many countries of the world, people work to live instead of live to work.
In many countries of the world, children are still considered sacred. According to this study, 55 countries ranked higher in the protection of Children’s Rights than the United States.
Parents can leave the US and spend less time working, which means more time being with their kids.
THIS IS A HUGE REASON WHY SO MANY OF US HAVE LEFT!
Daycare as the Default
Day care has been calculated as costing nearly as much as college in most American states, and most parents don’t even want to leave their kids in day care anyway.
There are parents who choose day care intentionally, for social development and academic reasons.
But many parents choose day care because they don’t know how else to make ends meet.
✅The bills need to be paid,
✅the hours need to be worked, and
✅their kids need somewhere to spend the day.
THE EASIEST SOLUTION: DAY CARE.
But living abroad in a country with a lower cost of living means sending your kids to day care only if you want to.
And if you do? It’ll be only a fraction of the cost!
Safety and Security Concerns
Without getting into the gritty details, many parents no longer feel safe sending their kids to American schools.
Even if your child is “lucky” and isn’t touched by tragedy at school, they still have to rehearse horrible scenarios regularly. Things that many of us don’t even want our child to realize is a remote possibility, let alone a horrible reality.
I’ve been living in Mexico for three years, and my nervous system still activates when I hear fireworks when I’m out in public. Kids in many other countries don’t live with that fear.
EVERY CHILD AND PARENT DESERVES TO FEEL SAFE EXISTING.
Another huge reason why some of us have left the US.
The Cost of Wellness (Mental and Physical)
I used to pay $1,100 per month for health insurance for myself and my daughters, and it didn’t even cover much.
THAT’S OVER $13,000 PER YEAR ON MEDIOCRE HEALTH COVERAGE!
And I’m not alone.
American families are spending more on basic healthcare than ever before, and we spend more time being sick than the rest of the world. How is that fair?
And that’s not even getting into the mental health crisis in the US.
The cost of international out of pocket healthcare is only a fraction of the cost that it is in the US, and access to treatment and medication is often cheaper. And international healthcare makes costs even more reasonable.
Prioritizing Childhood Over Nostalgia
One of the hardest parts of leaving the US is the nostalgia we feel about what we thought the US could be.
Many of us dream about aspects of our own childhood that no longer seem to exist for today’s American kids.
But when your kid’s childhood is on the line, the benefits of leaving your home country often outweighs the disadvantages.
I HOPE THAT ONE DAY THE US WILL BECOME A COUNTRY WHERE AMERICANS CAN FEEL SAFE AND SUPPORTED. BUT UNTIL THEN, I’LL BE RAISING MY KIDS ABROAD.
My kids deserve to feel like children and they deserve to have parents who aren’t stressed and working 24/7 and yours do too.
Many of us can’t offer that to them in the United States right now.
Looking Toward a Brighter Future
As sad as it makes me to write this, so many parents feel that the future of the US seems… bleak.
The justice system, the education system, the housing market, the healthcare industry…things just feel broken.
So many other countries are older, more experienced, and know how to take care of its residents.
Medical care, childhood education, higher education, overall human rights.
I once told my Dutch friend that we had just finished paying off our student loans (in our 30s) and he looked at me in total bafflement.
✨Imagine being able to afford higher education for your children without saddling them (or yourself) with massive debt. ✨
AFFORDING HIGHER EDUCATION IS A REALITY IN A LOT OF THE WORLD WHERE EDUCATION IS PRIORITIZED.
Securing a Second Passport
Another benefit to raising your kids abroad is working toward a second passport.
With all of the instability in the US (and the world in general) it can almost never hurt to have a second passport (or at least a permanent residency in another country).
My daughters currently have two passports and I’d love to add a third before they reach adulthood.
MORE PASSPORTS = MORE PLACES TO FIND SAFETY AND PEACE IN THE WORLD.
Why You Might Want to Leave the US Too
Living abroad is not for everyone, and it comes with some very large challenges for children and parents alike.
If you are simply wanting to leave the US because you hate your life there, that might not be enough to guarantee your success abroad.
Success living abroad looks like moving to a country because you are excited about what it can offer you, not just because you are afraid of staying in your home country.
AS ALWAYS, LIFE IS BETTER WHEN YOU ACT OUT OF LOVE/ABUNDANCE INSTEAD OF FEAR/LACK.
I wish I had this community when I was in the first stages of planning our move abroad.
If you want more info (or if you want to suggest pieces for me to include in the course) sign up below and I will keep you in the loop. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
I hope you found this post useful and consider sticking around. If you are thinking about raising your family abroad, you’ve come to the perfect corner of the internet. 🤗
Until next time,
Xx Bri