In 2025, the outflow of Americans relocating abroad contributed to what researchers estimate was the first net outward migration of the US population in decades, possibly the first since the Great Depression in 1929.

“Previously, the Americans leaving were super-adventurous and well-credentialed,” Jen Barnett, founder of relocation consultancy Expatsi, told The Wall Street Journal. “Now they’re ordinary people, like me.”

Barnett moved to Mexico’s Yucatán region in 2024.

The US government does not officially track how many Americans permanently resettle abroad, making precise estimates difficult. Brookings estimated that net outward migration in 2025 ranged from 10,000 to 295,000 people and forecast a similar trend for 2026. Other estimates placed the outflow at roughly 150,000 people in 2025.

The number of Americans renouncing citizenship has also risen sharply. Before 2009, annual renunciations typically ranged from 200 to 400 people. By 2025, the figure was approaching 5,000, with more expected this year after renunciation fees were reduced.

Nearly all 27 European Union member states have recorded rising numbers of Americans arriving to live and work there in recent years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.

Mexico has also become a major destination. About 1.6 million Americans live there, according to State Department estimates, making it the largest concentration of American expatriates worldwide.

Interest in leaving the United States appears to be increasing further.

A November 2025 Gallup poll found that one in five Americans would like to permanently move abroad, roughly double the figure recorded a decade earlier.

Researchers cite political disagreements, affordability concerns and new migration pathways as key drivers of the trend. Expanded remote work opportunities, investor “golden visas” and incentives for digital nomads have made relocation abroad more accessible.

“For the better part of two centuries, the story of American migration ran in a single direction: inward,” citizenship advisory firm Global Citizen Solutions wrote in a recent report. “The United States was the gravitational centre of global human movement, the place people came to, not the place people left. That narrative is shifting.”

A February 2025 Harris poll found that 68% of Americans considering leaving the country cited unattainable home ownership and a sense they were “merely surviving instead of thriving.”

Another 49% cited high living expenses and disagreements with the political situation in the United States, The Independent reported.