Articles about Americans moving to Europe are not on the level

Sometimes the absence of evidence is evidence of absence

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

The headlines are repetitive: “I'm a single mom with 2 kids. We moved from New York to Portugal, and life is so much better now.”, “My partner and I moved to a coastal Portuguese town, sight unseen. We finally have the work-life balance we've dreamed of.”, or “I moved to Spain for a more relaxed life. I pay about $300 a month in rent and have never been happier.”

All the stories are the same. An American moves to Europe and then writes about how much better it is. These new expats detail how much more pleasant and how much more carefree their new life is across the pond. How things move slower. How Europe isn’t as dog-eat-dog as the United States. These Americans proudly proclaim they have no interest in going back.

What a bunch of bunk.

From the get-go, you should know this isn’t a rant about how America is number one, or how Europe is a decaying continent slouching towards irrelevancy. To the contrary, I’m a Europhile. Ever since I first spent a week in Europe on a high school trip I’ve been hooked. I studied and worked in Prague for most of 2010. Since then, I’ve ventured to Europe more than any other continent apart from my own. I’ve visited almost every European nation at least once, traveling through the Balkans, Baltics, Benelux, and the British Isles, to name a few. Not only do I like visiting Europe, I would be more than open to living there again. It’s a fantastic place.

The fact is almost all the articles about Americans who move to Europe have people that fall into one of two categories. The first group is individuals who have direct ties to the country they are moving to. For example, this article - “I left the Bay Area and moved countries for a tech job — and I'm 100 times happier and less stressed now than I was in Silicon Valley”. It’s wonderful that this couple is loving Poland - but both the writer and her husband are from Poland. It doesn’t have the same oomph as to say “Polish couple move back to Poland and like it,” so that inconvenient fact is buried in the text. Stories about those who move abroad, but are either from said country, are first-generation immigrants from said country, or have a spouse from said country don’t have applicability to the typical American. It would be great to move back to my ancestral homeland. Unfortunately, all eight of my great-grandparents were born in Illinois. I grew up speaking English in my house, and I can’t see any of my seventh cousins in Germany with a different last name rolling out the welcome mat.

It is the second group, however, who have my jimmies rustled. Those who appear to be average Americans, with no personal connection abroad, but drop everything and move to a foreign country. My problem with these people, and there are so many that it feels like Business Insider must have a full-time editor for American expat stories alone, is the obvious question is rarely answered: what are they doing for income? The tell is in the absence of this somewhat important information. To move abroad is a big deal. That’s wonderful that all these people are happy with the life change, but telling the story about how Americans are moving to Europe without even discussing their income is dishonest.

For the most part, these emigrants are Americans who, while living in Europe, are still relying on America for money.

As long as the article is open about that fairly consequential fact, fine. There are many articles about retirees moving to Europe. At least here the headlines are generally honest - “I Couldn't Afford to Retire in the U.S. so I Moved to Spain at 70 Years Old — How I Did It.” Again, wonderful news for the author. Spain is fantastic. It’s crucial to remember, however, that the American taxpayer is funding this adventure abroad. American retirees have every right to leave the country, but it must be noted that their lifestyle is being subsidized by working Americans.

Then there are the articles that hide the ball. Sometimes the tell is in the phrasing. This article from US News & World Report discusses the Heinrich family, who moved from the US to Italy in 2020. As the article says:

The exchange rate has been a boon for his family, Heinrich says. “For the first time in the past 20 years, the euro and the U.S. dollar were at a dead-even exchange rate in the past year,” Heinrich says. “While the euro has recently inched back up compared to the dollar, the exchange rate is still quite favorable for American tourists or those who want to retire in Europe.”

If the exchange rate is a “boon” that means you’re relying on American income.

It’s the same story again and again. These two nearly identical articles about single moms who moved to Portugal with their children don’t ever mention income. A little Googling, however, reveals, that one is a digital nomad and the other continued to work for her San Francisco employer from abroad. This article follows yet another woman who moved to Portugal but kept her American job (and pied-à-terre in Brooklyn). It was honestly difficult for me to find any examples of Americans who had left their jobs behind. One woman who moved to Romania from the US wrote the provocatively titled article, “I Moved Here From Europe And Find The USA Needlessly Difficult — 'American Life Is Cruel, Abnormal & Unhealthy’”. Subheadline: “From Europe, America looks like a different planet”. It does appear the author spent years working for a Romanian company, but she currently works as a writer for American publications. Her LinkedIn also hints that she has Romanian roots. I did find one person who started a new job after moving to Europe, but get this, her new job is helping Americans move to Europe!

One thing all these people mention is that Europe is cheaper and more relaxed than the US. Hidden in the details, however, is that almost every expat moved from either New York or San Francisco! Which is not representative of America, to say the least. Now, I agree that Europe is cheaper and more relaxed than the US. That said, did none of these New Yorkers realize they didn’t have to leave the country to find a place that’s less cutthroat than Manhattan? Even the Hudson Valley is a world away from the Big Apple and it’s on the commuter rail.

The point of all this is it’s disingenuous to wax poetic about Europe and act like it’s superior to the United States when it’s American standards of wealth funding the enterprise. All these individuals are missing the obvious: It isn’t being abroad that’s making life more pleasant, it’s being richer. This is why American retirees have moved to Mexico for decades. It’s why “Passport Bros”, Western men who move to Asia to find a wife and higher status, even exist. Moving from the US to parts of Europe and maintaining the same salary is like going from middle to upper class. This is obvious from where all these Americans are moving to. None are migrating to Norway or Switzerland, despite these being the wealthiest and safest countries in the world. Instead, they are moving to the poorest countries in Western Europe, most often Portugal. Of course a New York salary is going to be more pleasant in Portugal - moving to Portugal is the equivalent of a New Yorker tripling their income!

The real test would be for an American to move to Europe and stay in the same income percentile. That is, if an American in the 80th income percentile moved to Portugal and their income became the 80th Portuguese percentile, how would they like it? Based on the differences between American vs. European salaries, I don’t think very much. Americans are fabulously wealthy, more so than almost every European country, and far more than the Portuguese or Spanish. It’s precisely that dog-eat-dog attitude and work ethic of Americans that have led the US to have such high standards of living.

So live in Europe. Extoll the virtues of a pleasant climate and more relaxed pace. If the income is coming from the United States, however, it’s an American lifestyle on European ground. This is nothing new. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein did the same thing 100 years ago. They and other members of the so-called “Lost Generation” lived in Europe while continuing to publish in the US, ensuring their American royalties could maintain a higher lifestyle abroad. It’s great that Americans are able to do that, but let’s not forget where the money is coming from.