Why more millennials are leaving big cities in favor of rural life
If you’re a millennial city dweller and feel like the majority of your friends have fled to small towns and suburbs over the past few years, you’re not imagining things. This year, the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service published an analysis of 2024 census data that details the notable exodus of young-ish people from big cities to more rural areas in recent years.
By “young-ish” we mean millennial and millennial-adjacent — perhaps a couple of years into Gen X or Gen Z on either end. This age bracket is important to note because these folks aren’t moving to the countryside to retire; these are professionals and parents who are relocating to benefit their families, jobs, finances and their own mental and physical health.
The census data shows that between 1980 and 2020, nearly 80% of U.S. population growth among adults ages 25-44 was concentrated in metro areas that had a million-plus residents. Post-2020, on the other hand, most of the growth experienced in rural areas has been driven by folks in that same age bracket: 25 to 44. And while, yes, 2020 was a turning point due to COVID-related urban flight, the exodus has only continued throughout the subsequent four years — and for a wide variety of reasons, not just pandemic concerns about health and safety.
What's prompting the move? Here's what people who left big cities in favor of rural life say about the pros and cons — and what experts make of the trend.
The motivation
Erin Austen Abbott wrote the book (literally) on the big-city exodus: Small Town Living. She moved to rural Mississippi after spending her 20s in urban centers, and tells Yahoo Life that the best thing about her move has been feeling “genuinely grounded in a place for the first time.” Now, she knows all her neighbors. “I have a community, my son can walk around the town and I don’t ever worry about him,” she says.
Rachel Lewis, a 31-year-old social media manager who recently moved to rural North Carolina from Wilmington, tells Yahoo Life that the best part has “been community — it’s been so much easier to connect with strangers and meet all sorts of people.” She’s made friends via the regulars at her new yoga studio, and the coffee shop in town “knew my order within a few months — a dream,” she says. “I feel like people really listen when I’m talking in a different way. Maybe because it’s less people coming and going,” compared to the city, she adds.
Alongside community-building, the other biggest drivers of city-to-country moves among those Yahoo Life spoke with were mental health and cost of living. “The affordability has given me a chance to take chances,” says Abbott of building her business and creative practices in a rural area.
Lauren Breedlove, who moved from New York City to the Adirondacks a few years ago, agrees. She moved to pursue a creative career: freelance writing and travel photography. “I couldn't do that with the high living costs that come with city life in Manhattan,” she says. “It's tough to survive in NYC, let alone survive when starting fresh in any creative industry.” Now 42, she's thriving in her career and says she loves life in the country, including that widespread rural win: spending less money on rent.
Breedlove says the move has definitely helped her mental health too. “NYC was always a dream of mine … but it wasn't easy. It's a place that builds you up and tears you down all in the same day.” Overall, Breedlove is relieved to be where she is today. “I don't do quite as much walking or [climbing] stairs as I did living in the city, but I can go for a run or a hike and breathe in fresh air here in upstate New York, and that seems like a worthy trade.”
Justine Goodman, 41, was born and raised in New York City but left for upstate in 2020 during the worst of the COVID crisis. “[I] had no idea what I would think of rural living,” she tells Yahoo Life. It turns out, her favorite parts are “literally everything. I love being here in every way.”
Ceramist Brit McDaniel, 39, agrees. Until a year ago, she was living in Memphis and “experiencing severe professional burnout,” she tells Yahoo Life. “The chance to relocate somewhere quiet (and absolutely gorgeous) was really appealing.” She moved to rural Arkansas, where she’s built an art studio and now has “a much healthier perspective around work and quality of life,” she says.
The science
Holistic psychiatrist Dr. Sham Singh says the main motivator behind these moves is mental health, and the science supports this. “Professionals who make the switch from city life to rural living often report marked, sometimes even profound mental health benefits emanating from environmental and lifestyle changes,” he explains. These improvements are typically due to a subtraction of financial stressors and an addition of positive factors, including:
Time in nature. In rural areas, “the natural environment helps control the HPA axis, which is our body's main stress response system,” explains Mary Poffenroth, a biopsychologist who investigates how the nervous system and brain shape our mental processes and behavior. “This system can work better because it has less sensory input, which leads to more balanced cortisol production and better control of emotions.” Spending time in nature has repeatedly been shown in studies to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. For those with families, rural living can give kids many more opportunities to play outdoors, “which leads to less screen time, a reduced urban stressor factor that could influence their emotional growth,” Singh adds.
Mental and physical slowdown. Rural living lets people escape the overstimulation of the city. Poffenroth explains that our stress response regulation in urban environments is difficult: “When we're constantly surrounded by urban stimuli — from traffic noise to dense populations — our amygdala … can't tell the difference between real threats and the constant sensory overload of city life.” That constant activation of this part of the brain “sets off our sympathetic nervous system, which causes cortisol levels to rise,” she says. “People who live in cities often feel this as a constant low-level anxiety or restlessness.” Rural settings, on the other hand, are conducive to “enjoying the stillness that may support emotional regulation and cognitive clarity,” Poffenroth notes.
Closer communities. Another positive outcome of that slower pace? It often leads to building “meaningful social interactions and deeper connections with one another,” says Singh. “Smaller, close-knit communities that are typical in the country can build a sense of belonging and provide social support, each crucial for mental health.”
The drawbacks
Of course, there are a few things folks miss about big-city life. Like “getting food delivered to my door,” reminisces Abbott. “I’ve taught myself to cook so many different cultures of food because I can’t get it here.” Breedlove adds one more wistful memory to the list: “Close access to major airports!”
There’s also additional planning needed when you don’t have everything at your fingertips 24/7. Abbott says she has subscription services for things she can’t get in rural Mississippi, and she drives an hour away to Memphis once per month to stock up on certain supplies.
The surprises
What has shocked ex-city-dwellers the most about their moves? “How many fascinating people have found this town,” says Abbott. “The neighbors on my street alone are from Arizona, Washington, Wisconsin, Montana, Louisiana, Maine, California, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. It says a lot about a place that attracts many different people with varied backgrounds.”
“I think I was most surprised that I didn't miss it all that much,” says Breedlove. “When I first left, a part of me thought I'd be moving back to NYC at some point, but here we are.” Will she still move back? Nah. “I'm good,” she says.
For Breedlove, leaving the city has led to “a career I'm passionate about, being closer to my family, having a big yard that finally allowed me to get my dog who I'm in love with, and not having to spend rush hour subway rides with someone's armpit in my face.” Who could argue with that?
