The piece doesn’t frame this as “affluent liberals” leaving. It explicitly says the wave used to be “super-adventurous and well-credentialed,” but now it’s “ordinary people,” including small-business owners, remote workers, retirees and people on Social Security/disability, families moving with kids, and students chasing affordable degrees. Politically it’s not one-sided either: it says Trump’s re-election mattered for some, while noting others who left actually voted for him.  So the signal is broad-based cost/safety/lifestyle arbitrage, not a partisan flight.

That's pretty interesting. I imagine these are relatively affluent liberals mostly.

Undisciplined

the article mentions:

Portugal
Ireland
Germany
Spain
the Netherlands
the Czech Republic
Mexico
Canada
the U.K.
Albania
Bali
Colombia
Thailand
Norway

“Last year the U.S. experienced something that hasn’t definitively occurred since the Great Depression: more people moved out than moved in.”

“America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and safe.”

“The new American dream, for some of its citizens, is to no longer live there.”

“In nearly all of the European Union’s 27 member states, the number of Americans arriving to live and work is at a record and rising.”

“The total living in Portugal has jumped more than 500% since the Covid pandemic.”

“More than 100,000 young students are enrolled abroad for a more affordable university degree.”

“You don’t face the prospect of your 5-year-old going into a kindergarten and doing an active shooter drill.”

“Americans move abroad and find they like life better abroad. They like the social democratic policies.”

Politics_And_Law

>“Last year the U.S. experienced something that hasn’t definitively occurred since the Great Depression: more people moved out than moved in.”

>“America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and safe.”

>“The new American dream, for some of its citizens, is to no longer live there.”

>“In nearly all of the European Union’s 27 member states, the number of Americans arriving to live and work is at a record and rising.”

>“The total living in Portugal has jumped more than 500% since the Covid pandemic.”

>“More than 100,000 young students are enrolled abroad for a more affordable university degree.”

>“You don’t face the prospect of your 5-year-old going into a kindergarten and doing an active shooter drill.”

>“Americans move abroad and find they like life better abroad. They like the social democratic policies.”