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Immigrants are increasingly choosing to leave the United States and return to their home countries or relocate elsewhere due to a combination of factors including a high cost of living, perceived decline in quality of life, limited ties to the US, homesickness, the ability to enjoy financial success abroad, and concerns about the US economic future.
The video explores why some immigrants are choosing to leave the United States, moving away from the traditional narrative of seeking a better life. Several key factors are driving this trend. Firstly, the high cost of living and perceived decline in quality of life in the US, including issues like aggressive social interactions and a car-dependent culture, are significant deterrents. Many immigrants find that their home countries offer a more comfortable and familiar lifestyle, especially when considering the affordability of services and a generally more pleasant social environment.
Another major reason is the limited ties many immigrants have to the United States. Often coming for education or career opportunities, they may be the only family members in the country, lacking the strong familial bonds that anchor others. This makes the decision to return home or move elsewhere less daunting. Furthermore, homesickness is a powerful motivator; immigrants often miss their culture, language, food, and the sense of belonging they experienced in their home countries. This longing is amplified as many countries have undergone significant development and improvement, becoming more appealing destinations than they were in the past.
Financial success achieved in the US also plays a crucial role. Immigrants who have worked hard and achieved financial stability can leverage their earnings to enjoy a higher quality of life in their home countries, where their money may have greater purchasing power. This allows them to afford luxuries like hiring drivers or chefs, or simply to live more comfortably. For many, the goal shifts from accumulating wealth to enjoying life, leading them to seek out desirable locations worldwide. Finally, concerns about the US economic future, marked by inflation, economic instability, and the increasing difficulty of achieving traditional milestones like homeownership and starting a family, are causing some immigrants to look for more promising economic prospects elsewhere.
The perception of the US economic future is a significant concern, with recurring recessions, rising costs, and stagnant wages for many making it harder to get ahead. This, coupled with the allure of rapidly developing economies in other parts of the world, presents a compelling case for relocation. The video concludes that the decision to leave is often not a failure to succeed in the US, but rather a strategic choice to leverage success and seek a better overall life experience, whether that's back home or in another attractive global destination.
Immigrants are increasingly leaving the US due to a high cost of living and a perceived decline in quality of life. Factors like aggressive culture, the necessity of driving everywhere, and homesickness for familiar culture and food contribute to this decision. Many find they can achieve a better lifestyle back home or elsewhere.
Homesickness is a major driver, with immigrants missing their culture, language, food, and social norms. Limited family ties in the US also make returning home easier. Furthermore, financial success in the US allows some to return and enjoy a higher quality of life in their home countries where their money may go further.
The high cost of living in the US is a significant factor pushing immigrants to reconsider their stay. Rising costs for housing, daily expenses, and the general difficulty in affording necessities like starting a family or buying a home are prompting them to seek more affordable opportunities elsewhere. Many find their earnings provide a better quality of life in their home countries.
Yes, concerns about the US economic future are influencing immigrant decisions. Issues such as inflation, rising interest rates, and economic instability lead some to seek more promising prospects in other countries. The increasing difficulty in achieving traditional financial milestones like homeownership adds to these worries.
While traditionally distinct, the line between immigrants and expats is blurring. Immigrants typically move with the intention of settling permanently, often seeking better economic or social opportunities. Expats, on the other hand, often move for work or lifestyle with the expectation of returning home eventually, though this distinction is becoming less clear with global mobility.
Yes, many immigrants find they can achieve a better quality of life abroad, especially by returning to their home countries or relocating to other developed nations. Financial success in the US can translate to greater purchasing power and comfort elsewhere. Additionally, factors like a more relaxed social environment and familiar cultural norms contribute to an improved lifestyle.
Immigrants are leaving the US due to a high cost of living and a perceived decline in quality of life, including aggressive social interactions and a car-dependent culture. Many find their home countries offer a more comfortable and familiar lifestyle with better affordability. Concerns about the US economic future, such as inflation and economic instability, also contribute to this decision.
Immigrants often return home due to homesickness, missing their culture, language, food, and sense of belonging. Limited ties to the US, such as lacking strong familial bonds, also make the decision to leave less daunting. Many countries have also developed significantly, becoming more appealing destinations.
Yes, immigrants who achieve financial success in the US can leverage their earnings for a higher quality of life in their home countries. Their money may have greater purchasing power, allowing them to afford services and live more comfortably. The goal often shifts from accumulating wealth to enjoying life.
The difficulty in affording homes is a significant concern, not just in the US but globally, affecting Western countries, China, Turkey, and South Korea. This economic challenge contributes to immigrants reconsidering their long-term prospects in the United States.
Discrimination can play a role in immigrants' decisions to leave the US. Despite living and working in the country for many years and paying taxes, some still experience discrimination, which can negatively impact their overall experience and lead them to seek better environments elsewhere.
Many immigrants come to the US with the primary goal of earning money to support their families back home. They often work multiple jobs and live modestly to save enough to live comfortably in their home countries, a practice known as remittance.
0:01 Hey YouTube, Alex here. This video is partially inspired by a conversation with my buddy Ron, who is a Filipino American planning to return to the Philippines next year. I just wanted to share some of what I gleaned from our conversation. Without further ado, let's go ahead and get into it. Why are some immigrants leaving America? I made other videos distinguishing the difference between an immigrant and an expat, and I'm not going to get into that in this video. It's beyond the scope of this video.
0:28 The first reason is the high cost of living, coupled with major quality of life issues. There are a number of major quality of life issues in the United States. We can talk about the weather, we could talk about the at times aggressive and rude culture. In my experience, many immigrants come from a background where there's a certain kind of social etiquette to be observed. In the US, they're often finding that these have gone out the window. They're finding that people just don't really observe them, and the pace is such that you're constantly sprinting, constantly running from place to place. The pace keeps getting faster and faster, and no matter what you do, it's insufficient. It's not enough to try to be polite, it's not enough to try to be helpful, that people really have this kind of mean spirit, especially in the major cities.
1:20 A lot of us that come from immigrant backgrounds, that's not traditional for us. It's not traditional for us to be rude, it's not traditional for us to be overly aggressive. It's not traditional for us to operate in such ways. I know somebody will come in here and tell me about how their small town is awesome, how everybody's nice. That's great, that's great that you have that. If I'm an immigrant and I'm looking to work my way up the career ladder, I don't have the capacity to start a business for whatever reason. Maybe it's beyond the scope of my interest at the time, then I want to go to a bigger city because that's where there are more businesses, there are colleges, that kind of thing. It's not practical for me to move to a small town where I may not have any extended family, where I may not know anybody, where I may not be able to get a job very easily.
2:05 I've talked to friends from India, they have taught me about how hiring various services is much more affordable. So if they've sold a business, if they've had career success, maybe their stock options took off, then they can go back home and live a much more comfortable life. They could build a house, they might be able to hire a private chef, they might be able to hire a driver. They could live a much more comfortable life than they could in the US on the same amount of money. They might be from a country with much more consistent social norms, where in such a way that they're accustomed to people being more respectful or considerate to each other, people being generally more friendly, people being more supportive in the group setting, and just generally easier to get along with. In the US, if you want to be treated well, you typically have to have tons of money. There are other countries where even a person with a moderate budget can still be treated pretty well.
2:58 Some people love to drive. I'm not one of those people. I think of it as a major quality of life issue to have to drive everywhere. I like being able to go for a walk. The immigrant may be going back to a country that's more pedestrian-friendly, maybe to an area or a city where they can go out and walk to the local markets and pick up their groceries or whatever they need for the day. That's very uncommon in the US unless you're in a select few extraordinarily expensive cities. You're not going to have the ability to just walk around. There are plenty of immigrants who do come from places where there is street-level activation, where you don't walk down the street and feel lonely and isolated like you do in much of the US.
3:37 There's a perception that every single immigrant to the US is a refugee. While that is the case for many, and it is very tragic, that's not the case for all. There are people that are coming from places that don't have the significant danger factor. Rather, they're coming because they've got a specialized skill set and they want to contribute and be rewarded handsomely for it. And then once they've collected their reward, it's time to go back home for some of them.
4:01 The next point here is limited ties to the country. So for many of my immigrant friends, they don't have family in the US. They came for a master's degree and to work in the corporate world. They might be the only member of their family living in the United States. They may not have brother, sister, cousin, aunts, uncles, dad, mom, grandparents in the US. It may just be them. For some of them, they don't have these major family ties to the United States where, 'Oh, okay, well, my siblings are here, so I'm going to be able to hang out with them.' And even if they are, they could be spread around the country. I know a lot of people move for work these days, and one brother or sister might be living in New York, the other in LA or Miami or Seattle. These are massive distances. It's expensive to fly across the country, it's time-consuming, and if you're in a demanding job, you may not be able to pull that off very easily.
4:52 I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine's mom about not always getting along in the Southern US, and she told me, 'You don't know how bad that sounds to a Southerner like me.' At which point I realized, yeah, I'm a Southerner, and I grew up in the Southern US, but I'm not culturally Southern. And many of my friends in the South aren't culturally Southern either. They moved there from Michigan, they moved there from New Hampshire, they moved there from California, they moved there from other parts of the country. If not them, their parent or grandparent was from some other part of the United States. That's an instance where, okay, I'm geographically yes, I'm from the South, but I don't have any ties to any part of the country in the same way that some other Americans might feel where it's like, 'Okay, my parents are from here, my grandparents are from here, my great-grandparents are from here.' In my case, my only European ancestor grew up in Idaho, and so, you know, I guess I have some extended family in Idaho. That's really it. The rest of my family, they're recent immigrants, so they don't have those deep roots that many other Americans have.
5:58 And so I often feel like these days I have at least as much in common with my immigrant friends as I do with my American friends. And of course, this is getting into identity, and that's a tricky subject, but I just don't feel those strong connections to us. It's not really a stretch for me to move halfway around the world in the same way that it might be for somebody that would be giving up a lot in terms of relationships, history, and tradition.
6:23 The next point is that some immigrants get homesick. So some people do miss their home country. I know that my grandmother talked about it when she came to us. She missed Japan all the time. She missed the culture, the food, the language, the nature. She deeply missed Japan. I didn't really get it until I went to Japan. And then after spending a month in Japan about five years ago, I realized, 'Oh yeah, I could see why you miss this place.' It's clean, everything is on time, there's very limited crime, it's beautiful, the nature is jaw-dropping. The country is just hyperdeveloped. It's a very efficient and convenient country to live in, much more so than when she left. She left after the Second World War, and so it was a much different place back then than it is today. Even the Japan of back then is a Japan she missed living in to some degree.
7:11 I think a lot of immigrants feel this way. I've had numerous immigrant friends mention being homesick when we get into a more vulnerable conversation about how they're feeling. They miss the language, they miss the people, they miss not being perceived of as an outsider. Even I, being American, I still get regarded as a foreigner in some places. And a lot of people inevitably think about, because the pace of life in the US is so fast, when we do have some time to ourselves, we are remembering, 'Man, I miss going for a walk by this beach,' or 'I miss the hustle and bustle of my home city,' or 'I miss being around friends and family.' There's a lot of things that immigrants miss from back home. I've talked to many different immigrants in the US about their home countries, and it's inevitable that they give up something. I even have friends who came to America as refugees that miss their home country. You'd think a refugee, of all people, it might be a totally negative perception of their home country, but that's not always the case.
8:10 Now, each individual has a different experience. Some will feel better than others, but it's worth consideration. It's worth pointing out some people do feel homesick. They miss back home, they miss the food, they miss the weather, they miss the culture, they miss something about it. And a lot of countries have improved in the last few decades. A lot of countries have come a long way, they've developed, they've rebuilt, they've reconstructed, they've sorted out their issues, they've become better and better places to live. And there's this misperception, a lot of Americans who have never traveled outside of the country before, they think everything outside of the US is total Armageddon and is just terrible. And that's not the case.
8:52 There are many places that have had issues throughout history, but Colombia is a great example. Had some major issues in the 90s. I went more recently in 2021, had a great time. Love Colombia, gorgeous country, very warm and friendly people, very hospitable. It's not what it was, so it's actually come a long way. And so there are a lot of places where I think you'll see more and more people return home because these other countries are getting better.
9:16 Other countries are getting better; they've sorted out different challenges that they've been struggling with, and the future looks bright for them. The world is a dynamic and ever-changing place, and I think a lot of immigrants do miss their home country to varying degrees. Some will eventually return because they do feel homesick. Let me know down in the comments if you're an immigrant and thinking about going back to your home country. I don't know how much of this is just my thoughts or experiences, or if maybe you share a similar sentiment.
9:42 The next point, and this is especially true for the United States but also applies to Canada, Australia, or the UK, is that immigrants made their money. They worked in high-tech fields, medicine, or the legal or finance fields, and they commanded a solid salary. Maybe they started a business, sold it, or hired people to operate it. They've got consistent cash flow, own stakes in bigger companies, or are collecting a pension from the government or military. They're far better off financially than when they came to that country; they've really gotten ahead, worked hard, and pursued the American dream.
10:22 They rose up from a more modest background. I know the US is a place with many unique opportunities, but for some people, after they've achieved success, they want to go back home or to some other country. They know that the US dollar has stronger purchasing power in other countries, maybe not their home country, but somewhere else. They understand that money is just a storage of credits and debits of time, representing the ability to purchase other people's time. This allows them to travel to Europe, other Western democracies, or back home.
11:12 Once you've got the money, there's so much more flexibility in your life. You can buy plane tickets, pay for hotel rooms, and try interesting foods you may have never been able to afford before. You're not necessarily in your working years anymore where you need to get ahead; you've actually gotten ahead. Then it may be time for them to enjoy their life. There are so many cool places in the world to go to, especially if you've got some money you've made for yourself. You could go out and enjoy these places you only dreamed of as a young person.
11:42 The best part of the United States is the ability to make money, start a business, work in a high-paying career field, and invest. Once you've done that, for a lot of people, their priorities shift. That's not everybody; there are plenty of people happily living wealthy in the United States. But some people see other places as desirable, other countries, cities, or continents that draw their attention, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with spending your money how you made it and the way you want to spend it.
12:15 As people get wealthier, including immigrants, their horizons are broadened and expanded. Money gives you options. For those who have made it, they have the option: do I want to go back home and engage in charity work? Do I want to help family back home who's been struggling? Do I want to use my time to take care of a sick relative? Do I want to get involved in doing something else with my time that, when I was working and struggling, I didn't have time for?
12:46 Now that I've got the money, I've got the time for it. I have the choice that I didn't have when I didn't have money. Considering the US is going through some challenging circumstances, many immigrants have started to look back home. I have several friends in the US that are planning their move back home right now; they're doing their research and planting seeds. Maybe their parents even bought property 10 or 20 years ago, anticipating such a move might occur.
13:11 They're not going back because they didn't make it in the US; it's kind of the opposite. A lot of them did really well in the US, and it's opened up a lot of doors of opportunity for them back home. They might have all kinds of unique opportunities that didn't exist before they went to the US. I've had the good fortune to meet many successful people, and many of them have told me time is more valuable to them than money—the time to spend how they want with loved ones, friends, giving back, doing whatever it is they want to do.
13:43 If they're in their working years, they just don't have that much time. But they get to a point where they've set themselves up well; they've got a lot more flexibility and options. The United States has consistently produced wealthy people for centuries. The unique combination of factors there makes it one of the best places in the world to build wealth. Once you build that wealth, you get options and think about what you want to do with your future, which wasn't possible without the economic engine in the United States.
14:14 The next point is that they don't believe the economic future of the US is as bright as it has been historically. The US has suffered from record inflation in recent years, combined with the struggling tech industry and heightened interest rates. Many people have been laid off, myself included. So, there is concern about the economic future of the US: is it going to be as prosperous in the future as it has been historically?
14:40 I've talked to a number of immigrant friends, and a few things come up consistently. One, the country's built; there aren't these massive infrastructure projects that used to happen when the railroads were constructed, the interstate system was built, or airports were built. There are some, but there's a lot more red tape than in the past, with more people objecting or raising red flags about big construction projects.
15:12 Another concern is people saying, 'Oh, it's not like the '70s or '80s.' The delta between housing, food, transportation, and your income is slimmer, especially if you don't work in medicine, high-end tech, or the legal field. If you're just a working person, it's not as easy as it was to get ahead or purchase a home in terms of the multiple of the median income. The housing cost versus the median income multiple is not as favorable as it was in the past.
15:46 So, a lot of people are feeling like it doesn't make any financial sense for them to own a home. If they don't own a home, do they really want to start a family? If they don't want to start a family, do they really have some strong tie here? You see this with declining birth rates; I think that's another sign of people's concern for the economic future of the United States. A common refrain I hear is, 'Do I really want to bring a kid into a place that may have another recession or economic crisis every 10 years?'
16:12 We had the dot-com bubble in '01, the housing market bubble in '08, and the pandemic in 2020. I suspect we'll have another one in 2030. It's not a conspiracy-minded thought, but it seems like every 10 years now, there's some kind of major crisis that really impacts people's ability to get ahead. I think a lot of us are just kind of waiting for the other foot to drop, thinking, 'Who knows what it'll be in 5 or 10 years?'
16:42 The national debt is top of mind for a lot of people. There are many economic concerns facing young people, and for some of us, we want to go back either to our parents' home country or to the region that we're from. I know I have some friends that are African-American; they're doing testing and finding out their ancestors are from certain countries, and they want to go see it, maybe even live there.
17:10 With the advent of technology, many of our horizons have been broadened and expanded. We're finding out that there are so many cool places to live in the world that may have a brighter economic future. The economy here in the Philippines is awesome; it's growing rapidly, you see businesses and new housing projects being built all over the place. It reminds me of the United States in the '90s; that's where the Philippines seems to be right now.
17:35 That's just my opinion, and I love to see it. I love to see people getting ahead and the optimism here; it's really infectious. It makes you excited for the future, like it's going to be a really bright future here. You see some really big-time investors coming here because they have that confidence too. So, not financial advice, but I think the economic issues in the United States are really concerning to a lot of people.
18:00 Young people can't afford to buy houses, can't afford to start families, and it makes it less compelling to stick around in a place where you can't hit these milestones that have been so common in the past. Many normal guys knew they might not ever be a tycoon, but they could have a kid. Well, that's off the table for a lot of people right now, or at least that's the perception.
18:22 Now, or at least that's the perception, and so they're looking at other places that are more favorable. I think the Philippines is a very family-friendly country in many different ways, but it doesn't have to be the Philippines. You've got many cool options around the world.
18:32 So, we'll go ahead and wrap up here. Let me know what you think down in the comments below. Are you an immigrant? Are you coming from an immigrant background? Are you thinking about leaving the United States? I'd love to hear your input. It always helps to generate interesting discussion.
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