"The Instagram stories of Americans fleeing to Europe never show the returns - 40% are back in America within two years, broke, defeated, and pretending their "European adventure" was always meant to be temporary. They arrived with dreams of café life and affordable healthcare, then discovered European salaries, apartment hunting, and the reality that "everyone speaks English" is marketing fiction. My American expat group in Barcelona started with 47 members in 2022; 19 remain, and 3 more have flights booked home for January."
"The exodus back to America is massive but silent. Nobody posts about failing at European life. The couple who sold everything to move to Portugal doesn't Instagram their return to their parents' basement. The digital nomad who was "living their best life" in Berlin doesn't LinkedIn about running out of money and visa options. The retiree who moved to Italy for the dolce vita doesn't Facebook about the loneliness and bureaucracy that broke them."
"Americans research European cost of living but not European salaries. They see "Madrid apartment: €1,000" and think it's cheap. They don't see "Madrid salary: €2,000" until they're here. American expectations vs European reality: The Portuguese minimum wage is €760/month. The Spanish average salary is €2,000/month. The Italian entry-level professional makes €1,500/month. Americans arrive expecting to maintain purchasing power. They can't. "But healthcare is free!" Yeah, on a salary that doesn't cover rent."
Forty percent of Americans who move to Europe return to the United States within two years, often financially strained and disillusioned. Many arrive chasing café culture, affordable healthcare, and the belief that everyone speaks English, but encounter low local salaries, difficult apartment markets, and visa obstacles. Social media frequently hides these failures, creating a misleading impression of widespread success. Concrete examples include a Barcelona expat group shrinking from 47 to 19 since 2022. Returnees commonly cite salary-to-rent imbalance and visa complexity as primary reasons for repatriation.
Read at Gamintraveler
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]