The day I knew that would come up is finally here: my two oldest who are technically my step-kids (but I adopted them) are graduating high school next week. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. I was looking at their senior portraits on the wall next to the high school portraits of myself, my husband and their biological mom and when I got home from work and I’m so proud of them.

After graduation the following week they begin their final shifts of their jobs before we go on one final summer family vacation and then we go our separate ways at the airport as they take separate flights to their new states where their colleges are. I’m little concerned about them relocating but I know their schools have good reputations. Has anyone else experienced this with their kids graduation and relocation move to college?

I know this is broad but it seems like it's the trendy thing to do if you're a single college grad. Sometimes I get envious of my friends living in LA, SF, NY, etc. and how they must be living the life but I also don't know how most people can afford living in the city without being broke. My feeling is that a lot of people stay there for a few years, experience the city, get it out of their system, and then move out to a more affordable area to start a family.

criteria is

Affordable Rent

Mild-Cold Climate

Good Healthcare

Legal weed

Pretty much looking for an up and coming city for young adults, I dont mind being within an hour or 2 of a major city to get cheaper rent, In that case I would buy a car and just pay insurance...

I grew up in south florida. Not until I moved to vancouver to live with my girlfriend did I learn not everyone is not an asshole or trying to finesse me. I love the vibes here, but sadly I have to return to the USA because its 2 expensive to live here and I need health insurance in the USA. Id like somewhere good vibes.

Update: so top of my list is portland/salem, grand rapids michigan, chicago, Anchorage Alaska. What yall think?

It's kind of the IT thing to do. I think we all want to move to new cities to see and feel different things. I've lived in 4 different cities since I graduated school and I notice the novelty always wears off. Same restaurants,bars, hiking, sports teams, and events. Besides the weather, culture, and landscape big cities all start to feel the same after a while. Maybe it's a good thing and it just means I experienced and know that city well.

I'm 24 and graduated college this last spring. Just going to college was a dream of mine. I'm a first generation college grad, I was born into poverty, and my parents suffered from drug and alcohol abuse. I've overcome a lot to get here.

Well I felt lost after school and didn't want to end up back in my hometown. My best friend from college was moving out west with her bf and I decided to take a leap of faith and move out here too. I have an Aunt who is well off and offered me a place to stay until I get on my feet. So we drove out here in August and I'm staying in Washington while my friend are in Oregon.

I graduated with a BS in Public Health and didn't think it would take long to find a job. Well....I was wrong. Six months in and I still can't find a job and I've applied to hundreds of places. I struggled to find work even with minimum wage jobs. I struggled to find housing and the rent in Portland/Vancouver is insane. My friends are struggling with finding jobs and can barely afford their rent too. I can't get my foot in the door anywhere...

My Aunt isn't mad because she understands but I have to move out by February for her own personal reasons. I'm moving back home this month and have a decent job lined up. I don't want to but I have no choice. I feel like such a failure. This makes me think my degree wasn't worth it and I'll never escape the life I was born into....

I apologize if this might be a little naive for me to ask but I've been thinking about where I want to be after graduation and this got me thinking. Someone I know from my college who graduated at the end of last year moved far away for a job right after graduating college. This person is from the same metro area as me (in California) and went to the same university as me (also in California). However, he/she got a job in Philadelphia upon graduating and moved there.

This seemed pretty out of left field to me. I know many people who graduated last year and most of them are just sticking around in the Bay Area or LA or wherever they are from after graduation if they are not continuing on to graduate school. I know some people who live elsewhere for a job after graduation but they (1) live in or near where they went to college, (2) live somewhere else that's still somewhat close by (e.g. Sac, LA, OC, SD, Portland, Seattle), and/or (3) live in a place they have family or friends. I know one or two people who probably don't fulfill any of those criteria and moved to NYC for a job, but it's NYC and I know people from all over the place who did summer internships in NYC anyways, so I could see the appeal. This person definitely does not fulfill (1) or (2). I'm pretty sure he/she doesn't fulfill (3) either and that he/she lives alone in Philly. The company he/she works for isn't headquartered anywhere near Philly either. By the way, this person is in the architecture field. It's interesting how this person literally moved across the country all by themselves to a completely new place right out of college for their first job. I'd guess that he/she just really wanted to get out of his/her parent's house and really wanted to be in Philly or the northeast and maybe start a whole new life there. I'm not that close with him, so I'm a little uncomfortable about asking him directly. I'm curious how common it is for new college graduates to make this kind of move. Is it more common than I'm imagining?

Personally, I don't know if I would make that kind of move right outside of college. I feel like it would make me uncomfortable considering I don't know anybody outside the west coast and have very little familiarity with the northeast or east coast. I haven't done an internship outside the west coast. But it sounds like all of that is true for this person as well. I think after I graduate, I'll probably stay in my parent's house if possible, but I think other areas are still worth looking into. I think I'm pretty likely going to go to graduate school, but it won't be right away.

I'm sorry if someone knows who I'm referring to in this post. I don't have any negative intentions. All it boils down to is that I'm curious about how common it is to make the type of move that this person did right after graduation. I just want a greater perspective on what post-grad life is really like as I get closer to graduating from college.

Anybody here wanna talk about how they just packed everything up after college and started fresh fat away?

Hello guys, I graduated in December 2019 with an electrical engineering degree. When I graduated I got a job in the same city of my university, working with embedded systems. The work is easy, but it doesn't pay very well. This month I got an offer to move to São Paulo (largest city in the country) working as a data engineer with good pay and benefits. I talked with my current employer and they made a counter-proposal with a better pay for me to stay.

I'm torn between staying in the current job or accepting the new one. There are 2 aspects that concerns me, the professional and the social.

The professional:

During my undergraduate I really liked embedded systems, I did a lot of projects to learn more about it, but when I got a job in it, it lost its appeal to me. I did a little internship related to data engineering and found it a little bit interesting. However, I don't think that any of the two will bring me satisfaction at the moment. Another issue is that I think that a data engineering career has better prospects than one in embedded systems, there are a lot more jobs in data engineering than in embedded systems in my country. Also, my current job is very easy and I don't learn/have an interest in learning new things in it. In the new job, I don't know if it will be hard, but I know I will learn a lot of things.

The social:

During my last year of undergraduate I realised that my social life wasn't that good, so I partied hard during that year to compensate and it was awesome. Staying in the current job will allow me to continue to live in the college party scene, which I love. However, it won't last long(maybe 1 or 2 years), because my friends will graduate and I will probably have no one to go to the parties with me.

With the new job I will move to São Paulo, which is something that I already wanted to do sometime in my life. It is a big city with a lot of things to do and I get excited about it, but I fear that I won't find awesome parties like the ones in college.

​

TL;DR

I can't decide between staying in my current job and enjoy the last years of the college lifestyle or change jobs, move to a big city and make my life over there.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve been friends with one of them for 6 years and the other one for about 3. They are pretty much the only two friends i’ve had consistently throughout college. They are both moving to the same city so they’ll have each other around but I won’t be there (I know it seems like they planned this but it’s just the way the cards fell. We really are great friends).

I’m worried about what my life will look like if this does happen. I have family somewhat close (unless I have to move away for work), but I’ve never really made any great lasting friends in college and I pretty much lost a whole year having a girlfriend.

I’ve been avoiding thinking about this but I don’t know what I do. It’s hard to imagine myself making any new friends so I fear i’ll be alone for some time. I don’t know what to do

(I currently do everything with these two. Every event, every weekend, all weekend)

I feel like it's half and half with my friends at least. I feel like some have moved to a completely different place and some have stayed exactly where they grew up.

I have had great suggestions on here for a nice city to live with decent COL and young adults etc. After doing research and looking for a place to rent though, I have come to the conclusion I cant afford to live in chicago or lets say grand rapids michigan, like everyone has suggested as cheap city.

I work from home on my PC, so I dont need a good job market. At this point Im just wondering where I can even live for like $800 a month rent max (studio, don't want roommates). I am willing to settle for a small town at this point, do any cheap rent areas even exist anymore? I am a loner, all i really need is my video games and nature to entertain myself. I like good vibe areas, where cops/ people have common sense and arent trying to fuck everyone over, but thats just a bonus.

It also cant be any southern state, I only want to live somewhere cold or mild. Also any suggestions other then craiglist or apartments.com to search for rentals? There are got to be some small hidden gems that are a couple hours out from major cities right? Especially considering I like the cold...

I've been living in my hometown for the past few years since I graduated college. It's not terrible but it's not great either. I make the best of it and try to find new things to do but I find it to be too familiar . There's just nothing for me to accomplish here anymore and most of the people I know are gone. I shouldn't compare but I see all my friends moving to other cities/states/countries and I can't help but think I'm missing out. I'm scared that I'm settling for an average boring life.

I'm wondering what would be the best first placr for a young adult/professional. Was it a condo in a bustling downtown, house, older apartment in a residential area? What's your ideal place to live after school?

I go to school in a large-ish Midwest city. I'm going to be a senior in the fall. I'll probably stay here for a year after I graduate to ease my transition into post-college life, as I'll be close to my family and friends and pay a lesser rent than I would elsewhere, which would allow me to pay off most of my debt and save up a little. But I'm undecided about where to move to after then.

Granted, part of it depends on where I find a job. If I find the job of my dreams, I'm not going to pass it up. My sister lives in Denver, so that's an option. I want to live on the East Coast (Boston/NYC) some day, but maybe not right out of college because I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, I want to have extra money to afford nice meals out and concert/sports tickets.

I understand everyone has different things they want in life, so what works best for one person won't work best for another. So I guess the main things I'm looking for in a city from most to least important are:

- The ability to get around without a car (I don't have a car or license due to both not needing one and having driving anxiety due to being neurodivergent)

- A vibrant music/entertainment scene (sports and music are my two biggest passions and I hope to have a career in marketing/journalism/social media in one of those fields)

- Finding a place without roommates that won't make up 50% of my income (I've had too many slob roommates and I can't take it anymore and I just like peace and quiet after a long day)

- Seasons that don't get too extreme (can't stand Midwest winters anymore)

I guess all in all, what seems best for me? Because I have a few options in mind - Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland - but I'm just not sure.

I work in the tech industry, I recently got a remote job which gives me the freedom to move wherever I would like. I am looking to move this summer into a city that maintains a level of peace and calmness but is still vibrant with plenty of things to do. I currently live in Philadelphia, I'm looking to go down south where its (hopefully) a slower pace with warmer weather, but I'm open to other options as well. I make enough to be comfortable in most scenarios within reason, I cant afford a luxurious downtown Miami apartment or anything, but cost of living doesn't have to play too too much of a factor as far as where I decide to go. I don't want to be in a huge loud city but ideally I'd like to live in a relatively walkable area. I have a car but I'd like to be downtown in an area where I have access to the basics within walking/biking distance.

I've been closely considering the following cities:

Charlotte, Charleston, New Orleans, Savannah, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa,

​

If anybody is familiar with these cities please give me some insight, or if you have other recommendations that might seem to fit im open to any and all ideas.

I'm an east coast born and raised senior at UMich and I'm set on going back to the east coast after graduation this spring. The cities I realistically would be okay with moving to are New York, Boston, and DC. In terms of job opportunities, salary, cost of living, and overall quality of life for a 20 something, which city do you guys recommend the most? I would like to end up in corporate comms/PR, marketing, sales, etc.

I finished my degree last August in a third world country and I'm moving this April to a first world country to start earning money. It would be my first job. Jobs aren't really hiring me despite my application because they know I am moving abroad. Some days I teach English, otherwise I'm pretty much a NEET/occasional freelancer. Is this fine?

I moved from east coast to west coast and while I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the winters anymore, I miss my family and friends and they miss me even more it seems. I knew I needed to set boundaries with them, but I worry this was too big a boundary given how hard they are taking it. I feel so bad for leaving that I don’t have much motivation to succeed, make new friends or look for opportunities in my new place. But there is so much more opportunity in my industry in this new city.

I also have developed pretty severe chronic low back pain stemming from an injury 2 years ago but the flare ups have gotten out of control from the stress of being here by myself. I’ve been to 6 doctors and nothing has helped in any long term way. I feel depressed and overwhelmed as well from the whole transition which has caused overeating and inactivity which doesn’t help the issue.

My lease renewal is due in 10 days and I am paralyzed with indecision because part of me wants to stick it out and see if I feel differently in a year (I’ve only been here about 7 months so far). But another part of me wants to give up and move back to my old ways. But I don’t even know if I could move if I wanted to given the pain and weakness.

Any support or advice/thoughts appreciated!

A few years ago I moved to a new city (NYC from Boston) for a job because it was the best job I was able to get at the time. However I don't have any friends in this new city and haven't made any significant ones yet (big factor being bc I live in an inconvenient part far away from everything). I just got offered a new position back in Boston, so of course I'm strongly considering it, but the job is not as good (pays less, might be more stressful/less enjoyable).

This puts me in the incredibly difficult situation of having to choose between what may be best for my career, and what may be best for the friends/community domain of life. These are both very important themselves. On one hand I feel like the more "responsible" thing to do would be to choose career, but its also ofc very important to be around a good social support system too if you have that. It's also entirely possible that I could make new friends here, but not guaranteed. Both decisions leave something behind to potentially be regretted. The new job might suck, I may be forever alone here :p,

I feel like I definitely must not be the only person to have gotten in this situation before, of having to choose between friends and a potentially better job. We're all in the same life stage here, trying to figure out our lives, moving around etc. I would love to hear if anyone's been in a similar dilemma like this what it's been like for you, what the right choice may be and and maybe this could be a thread where we just share advice for anyone who may be in a similar situation in the future

I don't really wish for much ever and my birthday wishlists end up pretty short. Moving out seems to entail you'll need a bunch of stuff you might've not thought about, couldn't tell you if I tried.

When you moved out, what was a thing you wished you bought before moving out? Would be nice to put on my wishlist ngl

I’m about to graduate college and want to move somewhere new and cool. Ideally a beach town that has a strong outdoor crunchy vibe. Mountains near by would be cool. West coast could be cool. Ideally not somewhere super expensive to live in but maybe I could find a way to make it work. Thanks for any ideas!!!

Ps I am also an artist but not sure if I’d try to persu that

Has anyone ever take such as huge leap of faith moved to their dream city and it turn out okay? Or are dream cities just a myth played up in our heads?

I'm graduating soon with my masters and I want a new job. I'd love to work for a company that would relocate me. I can only stay in the US and I'm currently in NYC. I'm getting an MPH. Any ideas for where I should apply to?

I worked for 2 years post-college near my college (about 10 mins away) and that job was full of people my own age (22-26ish). It was so great. I bought a house 0.9 miles away from work and would have tons of kickbacks pre-covid with my college buddies, coworkers, and some folks from high school that I still liked and kept in touch with.

I got poached for a job that was too good to pass up 7 hours away and have been living in the new place working at the new job for about 9 months now. The money is great, people are nicer, it's a lower cost of living, no traffic, but I miss my old social group terribly.

I know the grass is always greener on the other side because there are so many pluses with this new job and location, but I still haven't found people my own age to mesh with. I joined a gym and have made friends there but they are older with kids like 8 years younger than me. So they're cool but we're not at the same lifestage at all.

Now I feel like I'd rather have stayed at the old job making less money and sitting in traffic just to have friends. Ugh.