We are leaving the United States. This is how we’ll decide where to live next.
A bit of helpful background information:
- Mr. Scribbles and I have visited many places, but we never lived in another country.
- The idea of moving abroad is exciting and mildly terrifying for us.
- My default anxiety setting is a six out of ten.
- We are both over-thinkers who fall victim to analysis-paralysis.
So, how in the heck did we select and actually move to another country?!
To aid in our decision making process, we came up with a list of criteria and did a lot of research.
One great source of inspiration and experience we found is the Traveling with Kristin YouTube channel. Kristin is an American who has lived abroad for the past 15 years and helps people move abroad. In one of her videos she references the Expat Insider Report.
You know I LOVE data, so I took the country rankings from their 2021 report and made a spreadsheet 🤓
Below is the 2021 Expat Insider Report data for a few countries. Note that low scores mean a higher rating, and higher scores mean a lower rating.
The three countries in red text are our top contenders and each rank highly overall on the Expat Insider’s Quality of Life rating.
Note where the United States lands in the overall Quality of Life rating: 44.
The above is great, but we have our own criteria and so wanted to apply our own forced ranking to the above data set.Â
The above is not at all surprising. I don’t think we could go “wrong” with any of the three. If I had to apply additional criteria to these three, I’d consider language, exchange rate, tax treatment, and proximity to the US. Australia would win on language (English) and exchange rate, but lose hardcore on proximity to the US. Spain has the worst tax treatment, so that pretty much knocked them out of the running. See, there’s no “perfect” place.
Of the three countries in our forced ranking chart, the only one we’ve visited so far is Australia and we LOVED IT! We loved it so much that we spoke with an immigration attorney and know our path forward should we choose to move there. We’ll share those details in a separate post.
Data is great, but below is more detail on how we interpret our criteria:
- Diversity and Acceptance – How diverse is the population? How accepting is the community of different backgrounds? Diversity can take many shapes including gender, race/ethnicity, disability, LGBTQIA+, age, immigrants vs locals, etc. Ultimately, we want our kids to grow up around lots of different types of people in a community that accepts and celebrates that diversity.
- Safety – Wherever you go, crime is going to happen. I’m just asking for fewer mass shootings and hate crimes. M’kay?!
- Infrastructure – With two small children and needing to continue to work for the next few years, we need some basic infrastructure like electricity, reliable and fast internet, and roads. While I feel confident that this will be easy to check off, I don’t want to neglect it either.
- Healthcare – We have kids. I’m a bit of a worrier. Hence, I need us to have access to quality, affordable healthcare. What’s funny is that outside of the US, this is easier than you’d think.
- Education – We have kids and I’m not built to be a homeschool teacher. Whether it’s local, private, or international we need options to educate our boys.
- Cost of Living – Moving abroad is part of our larger FIRE journey. So we need to be intentional about not exceeding our annual spending targets. Thankfully, we live in one of the most expensive places in the US so most places will be less expensive.
- Access to other places or activities that interest us – With two kids, I want to have access to a variety of fun places and things we’d enjoy doing together as a family.
- Community – It will make or break your move. In addition to the above, we assessed the willingness of the immigrant community to connect and support each other. There was a clear winner in this category. Read my posts about Spain and Portugal to find out more. And read this post about how to start the community building process before you pack your first bag.
