Why more US women are moving abroad: stress, politics, safety

In 2022, as Americans reeled from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Jen Barnett saw firsthand how viable her new business could become.

Days before the ruling, she launched a website for Americans seeking to move abroad. As confusion and consternation spread over what the decision meant for US women, Barnett watched website traffic climb steadily. “We had this huge spike.”

That surge led her to co-found Expatsi, a company that has since helped thousands of Americans relocate. Women make up about two-thirds of her clients. “If it weren’t for young women, this business wouldn’t exist,” she said.

Her experience points to a growing gender gap among Americans: a Gallup poll last year found 40% of US women aged 15 to 44 said they would move abroad permanently if given the chance.

While the sample size was only 1,000, Gallup noted the findings starkly contrasted with earlier polls. Since 2014, the number of women wanting to leave has quadrupled. Among young men, the figure remained steady at about 19%, creating what Gallup described as the widest recorded gender divide of any country surveyed.

The poll results coincide with record numbers of Americans leaving the country. Relocation firms from London to Lisbon report a surge in inquiries. In early last year, US applications for Irish passports hit their highest level in a decade. France reported a rise in long-stay visa requests from Americans, and in March, the number of Americans seeking British citizenship in the previous 12 months surged to its highest since record-keeping began in 2004.

The Guardian spoke to five US women who recently uprooted their lives to move to Latin America and Europe, and one planning to move imminently. All had long dreamed of living abroad, but cited anxieties over gun violence, pursuit of better work-life balance, and political turbulence as tipping points.

Few were surprised that 40% of American women share that dream. “It has become harder and harder and more dangerous to even exist as a woman in the US,” said Emily Burt, 32, who moved to Ecuador with her husband and two young children earlier this year. “I think our generation, and even some gen Z women, we’ve just become disillusioned with the story that was sold of American exceptionalism and best country in the world.”

While some women continue to make strides in the US, Burt said it felt like things had moved backward overall. “The way women are spoken about, not by everyone and everywhere of course, but some of the loudest voices of influence – without naming names – are very disrespectful,” said Burt. “And that trickles down to how regular people that you interact with think that they can speak about, and speak to and treat women.”

All this unfolded against a backdrop of social media, where women get an unprecedented view of life in other countries. “Why wouldn’t they dream big and want to go places where they can feel respected and safe and the opportunities are open and endless?” Burt asked.

She and her husband decided to move after her oldest child started kindergarten in Texas. The exhaustion of balancing life and work was compounded by the stress of active shooter drills. “It was fairly often that we were getting threats, but then they were unfounded. But it doesn’t even matter if they were real or not,” she said. “That anxiety is still there.”

Others said US politics played a role. “The politics were just like fuel for the fire,” said Jenelle Jones, who last year left Tennessee in search of walkable cities, accessible public transport, and abundant community spaces across the Atlantic.

“Everybody’s like, ‘It’s because of Trump, right?’ It’s yes and no, though it just kind of confirmed my decision,” said Jones, 39, who was renting an apartment near Tirana, Albania, after a year of traveling through Europe in a camper van. “The US has always had inherent racism and classism, propaganda – all this stuff that’s built into it. But it’s never been so in-your-face before.”

The result was the kind of tensions that convinced Courtney Schuyler, 43, and her wife that the time had come for a move, rather than waiting until retirement as they had planned. “Walking around the United States when you know you might not be as protected or you might be judged a little bit more harshly or openly than years before – there’s always a level of stress on your shoulders when you’re part of a marginalised community,” said Schuyler.

With their three dogs, they traded their lives in the Tampa Bay area for Madrid last year. “It’s almost like being able to take a deep breath again. So that feels good, but it is so sad because there are a lot of people we still love and care about in the United States, and those we can empathise with.”

All the women were quick to note that new lives bring different challenges, from language barriers to distance from family. “Being American abroad, it’s an endless cycle of trying to find ways to get a visa,” said Alexandra Blydenburgh, 27, who left the US more than four years ago and moved between European countries.

“On social media, lots of people are like, ‘Everyone move abroad; it’s perfect.’ But I think it’s not necessarily for everyone. It is difficult,” she said, citing often-lower salaries in Europe as one example.

For her, these were trade-offs she was prepared to make. “A lot of people say, ‘Why move abroad? Why not try to work on or solve the issues you have in your home country?’ But in the US, I really feel like we’re in a place politically where that’s not really possible – in my lifetime I don’t see that the US could ever become a country where there’s free healthcare and this emphasis on work-life balance and six weeks of paid vacation.”

Barnett has watched this shift among clients. Before 2024, most cited adventure, personal growth, or lower cost of living. But since Donald Trump was re-elected in November 2024, “the number one reason is politics,” she said. “That November 6th was the biggest day we’ve ever had on our side. It was the craziest. Our lives just changed dramatically overnight.”

Her company has become part of a blossoming industry, including She Hit Refresh (for women over 30), Blaxit Global (for Black Americans), and GTFO tours (which tend to draw Trump critics).

Barnett saw little indication the trend would reverse, particularly as the US political climate remains fraught. “Listen, we would rather have democracy than the business,” said Barnett. “But we are going to seize the moment and make sure we can help as many Americans as we can.”