Nearly half of Americans—42 percent—said in a 2025 Harris poll that they’ve considered or plan to move abroad in pursuit of greater happiness.
Among Gen Z, that figure jumps to a striking 63 percent.1
As someone who began this journey myself at the end of 2023, when my husband and I purchased land and a tiny structure to renovate in southern Italy, I believe these Americans are onto something.
What saddens me is that it’s come to this. Moving to another country is no small undertaking, and there’s no good reason why people in the world’s wealthiest nation should be struggling so profoundly that leaving feels like their only path to happiness.
And yet, here we are.
After traveling back and forth to the southern Italian region of Puglia throughout 2024, I made the full-time move in January once I’d secured my digital nomad visa, which allows me to live in Italy year-round.
My bottom line: moving was absolutely the right decision, and I’m madly in love with where I live.
I feel physically and mentally better. I sleep better. I worry less. When I read the news from the US now, it looks crazier and crazier. I don’t know if it’s getting worse or if it just looks worse from where I’m sitting. The mass shootings alone look utterly deranged, especially living in a country that has never had a single one.
I don’t worry about surprise medical expenses like the repeated root canals I endured in the US, with the last one costing $8,000. I spend zero minutes fighting with health insurance companies because these kinds of companies don’t stand between me and health care in Italy.2
Seeing my doctor costs 50 euros3—though he’s never let me pay, which is another story—and once I’m on the Italian healthcare system, it will be free after I pay about a thousand dollars a year to be in the system. I had a root canal that was practically free by US standards and the treatment was flawless. I pray that if I get seriously sick, it happens in Italy and not when I’m visiting the US, where a car accident or medical emergency could wipe out my savings or worse.
I live on six acres of stunning land in the countryside. I do my morning walks by the ocean and go for regular swims. There is nowhere in the US that looks like that that I could ever afford. I’m able to do the work I love—writing—because living here is affordable enough that I don’t have to take a soul-destroying job just to cover basic expenses, as I did in the US.
One reason it’s so affordable is that I’m in the south of Italy, which has experienced a population drain as people move to cities. Another reason is that I live in a truly tiny home of 300 square feet, which is all part of this experiment of trying to live in a simpler, less consumerist way.