Wait, Why Is Everyone Moving to Europe?

Have you noticed?

Julia Roberts as Anna Scott in Notting Hill (1999)

When my husband and I visited the U.S. to see our friends and family earlier this year, I began to notice a reoccuring theme in the conversations we were having with them: everyone was talking about moving to Europe.

One friend said he’d move to London if Trump ran for a third term, another dreamed of experiencing life in Paris, someone else asked for advice on applying to grad schools in the EU, and one was in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship to relocate to Spain. As someone who recently moved back to Europe with their American partner, I initially thought that this was a case of shared interests in our friend group. But a quick google search revealed that this growing interest in a transatlantic move exists beyond our social bubble:

• In 2024, 63 percent of Gen Z and 52 percent of Millennials said they were considering moving abroad. 40 percent said they wanted to move to Europe.

• This year, about one in 10 Americans said they’ve considered or are planning to move abroad, and believe it could lead to a happier life. Gen Z and Millennials were the generations most eager to relocate with nearly one in five seriously considering moving abroad.

• Google searches related to “how to move abroad” spiked by more than 1,500 percent right in the aftermath of the 2024 election.

As someone at the cusp of Gen Z and Millennials who has moved abroad three separate times on my own accord, I recognize another big driving factor for this sudden interest in expat life: our media consumption habits.

Diane Lane as Frances Mayes in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

We live in an increasingly globalized world where travel has become a routine part of modern life. At the same time, many of us grew up watching characters in films like Eat Pray Love (2010), Mamma Mia (2008), The Holiday (2006), and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) cope with life crises by escaping abroad.

These may just be Hollywood narratives, but their emotional logic plays out daily on social media. On Tiktok, our feeds are full of videos with hundreds of thousands of views captioned something like “Pov: you moved to London and now your life feels like a movie,” “crashed out so bad i bleached my eyebrows and moved to italy,” and “probably needed a hug, moved to paris instead.” The comment section echoes with a now-standard reaction: “This could heal me.”

@laraceliaaquick fix

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Could this be saying something about how we as a generation cope with difficulty?

Gen Z and Millennials face a cascade of societal anxieties that the generations before us didn’t. We’re being walloped by the economy, our mental health is declining, we’re lonelier than ever, and most of us are exhausted from living in a state of constant survival mode. The fact that 69 percent of Gen Z and Millennials believe other countries offer a better quality of life points to a growing disillusionment with life in the U.S.

It’s not hard to understand why so many people dream of leaving when there are so many aspects of modern society that prevent us from finding our footing in life.

Being a generation that’s chronically online, the lifestyle choices we post about on social media have become a way to define our identities. There’s a constant pressure to be someone and to share this someone online. Through shared interpretations and meanings on social media, choosing to move to Europe and post about it online is a chance to reframe your narrative in a world that is so uncertain. In a way, moving to Europe, or expressing a desire to do so, has become a shorthand to become our best, most cultured selves.

Cameron Diaz as Amanda in The Holiday (2006)

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t recognize myself in these observations. You could argue that I am a part of that same discourse by writing a newsletter about personal style and travel, and you would probably be right. We’re all looking for ways to belong and to fit into a narrative that aligns with our own values, and to signal those to others.

Of course, I’m not saying that younger Americans want to move to Europe just to post about it online. But, I think the dissatisfaction with life in the U.S. manifests through escapism, and, in turn, our online behaviors feed into that narrative and give it a life on its own. It doesn’t make the dream of moving abroad less valid. If anything, it shows how deeply we’re all craving change, and a little more room to breathe.

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