A view of My Khe seaside in 2019 in Da Nang, Vietnam. Some People who moved to Vietnam or Thailand say they now have much less stress and might afford greater than they might within the U.S.
Linh Pham/Getty Photographs
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Linh Pham/Getty Photographs
Chad Dunn used to spend his days on the ground of a Hyundai plant in Savannah, Ga., watching the clock, feeling the strain, and questioning how lengthy he may hold going.
“Life in America was fairly unfulfilling and fairly wired,” he stated. “Like most people, simply in a rat race.”
Now, he lives in Da Nang, a coastal metropolis in Vietnam, and makes a dwelling serving to different People depart.
“I can choose you up from the airport, set you up with a cellphone, a checking account, and get you settled in an residence in underneath per week,” he stated. “It is turning into extremely popular.”
Dunn runs a relocation enterprise constructed round a easy thought: that the life he present in Vietnam is one thing others need too. A lot of his purchasers first discover him on TikTok, watching his movies about each day life overseas. And more and more, they attain out asking how they will transfer to Vietnam, too.
Chad Dunn lives in Da Nang, a coastal metropolis in Vietnam, and makes a dwelling serving to different People depart.
Chad Dunn
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Chad Dunn
International expat surveys have ranked Vietnam and Thailand among the many most tasty locations for affordability and high quality of life.
Estimates from the Affiliation of People Resident Abroad, based mostly on United Nations knowledge, present the variety of People dwelling in Southeast Asia has grown considerably over the previous few a long time, rising from about 32,000 in 1990 to just about 88,000 in 2024. (That knowledge doesn’t embrace Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, so the true variety of People within the area is probably going far increased.)
And for the primary time in a long time, the U.S. could possibly be experiencing damaging web migration — extra individuals leaving than coming into. A research published this year by the Brookings Establishment estimates web migration turned damaging in 2025, the primary time in not less than half a century.
Individuals born within the U.S. who select to maneuver overseas nonetheless make up a small portion of these numbers, however influencers on social media are serving to carry wider visibility to the shift.
Brooke Erin Duffy, an affiliate professor of communication at Cornell College, says the shift has been constructing over time, notably as extra individuals are capable of work remotely.
“I feel it’s a part of a broader development … and particularly the rise of digital nomadism,” she stated. “Increasingly individuals are working remotely … and looking for methods to combine work into their life-style,” somewhat than the opposite means round.
Duffy says social media helps speed up that shift. “We now have this tradition of … aspirationalism and relatability,” she stated, pointing to creators who showcase distant work in opposition to “attractive backdrops.”
However she cautions that what individuals see on-line could be deceptive. “The pictures that flow into about life and work are filtered by a shiny prism,” she stated, noting the hole between curated content material and the realities of dwelling overseas.
Expats hype Vietnam for its affordability
Mia Moore lives simply minutes from the seaside in Da Nang. She moved to Vietnam earlier this yr after years of touring by Southeast Asia.
Mia Moore
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Mia Moore
Mia Moore, a holistic nutritionist, lives simply minutes from the seaside in Da Nang. She’s 37, from Northern California, and moved to Vietnam earlier this yr after years of touring by Southeast Asia. For her, the choice wasn’t sudden; it constructed over time.
“It was a gradual realization that I wished one thing totally different,” she stated.
Again dwelling in California, she had what many would take into account a very good life — a profession, a routine, entry to nature. However she says a lot of her time was consumed by one factor.
“Day by day was about how I’m going to earn more money and sustain this high quality of life,” she stated.
In Vietnam, that strain eased.
“I pay a couple of fifth of what I used to be paying for lease,” she stated. “Utilities are principally nonexistent. I can exit to eat if I need to.”
A bowl of pho close to her residence prices about $2; even with extras, round $4.
“Individuals say it is low cost, however that makes it sound low high quality,” she stated. “It is really a very top quality of life. It is simply inexpensive.”
1000’s of miles away, viewers are watching lives like these unfold in actual time. On TikTok, People dwelling in locations like Vietnam and Thailand stream their days from beachfront cafés, metropolis residences, and late-night walks by streets that really feel each unfamiliar and oddly calm.
The movies are easy, however the message is obvious: Life in Southeast Asia appears to be like simpler.
In Thailand, social media influencers say stress ranges are down
Chris Michaels left Chicago and moved to Thailand in 2018.
Chris Michaels
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Chris Michaels
For Chris Michaels, the pull had nothing to do with cash. He spent his profession within the toy business, working in a company function in Chicago. It was about stepping away from a life that felt relentlessly aggravating.
“I would rise up, go to work, go to the gymnasium, fall asleep — rinse and repeat,” stated Michaels. “There was simply nothing new, nothing thrilling.”
The turning level got here on a visit to Bangkok, escaping winter in Chicago for heat nights and a skyline view from a rooftop pool.
“I am looking over the town considering, how do I reside right here full time?” he stated.
He figured it out. Michaels retired early at 46 and has now spent greater than seven years in Thailand. And like Dunn and Moore, TikTok has change into a part of his each day life. He posts movies and hosts livestreams a number of nights per week.
“The No. 1 query I get now’s ‘Assist me depart the US and transfer to Thailand,'” he stated.
For a lot of People, the attraction begins with price.
In locations like Da Nang and Bangkok, lease, meals and transportation can price a fraction of what they do in main U.S. cities, particularly for individuals incomes or saving in U.S. {dollars}.
That distinction reshapes each day life.
Moore says she not constructions her days round monetary strain.
“My focus now’s how I would like my day to look,” she stated. “How I really feel. What I need to do.”
Dunn describes one thing related — a life with fewer constraints and extra connection.
“There is a sense of group right here,” he stated. “Individuals collect, they discuss, they spend time collectively. It isn’t the identical form of stress.”
TikTok does not inform the entire story
Behind the movies and the life-style, there are limits.
Many expats say their life-style is made attainable by incomes or saving in U.S. {dollars} whereas spending in native currencies — a bonus that does not translate to most Vietnamese or Thai residents.
Making a dwelling domestically could be troublesome. In Vietnam, foreigners are usually restricted to a slender set of jobs, mostly educating English, the place pay is commonly considerably decrease than what they might earn within the U.S. In consequence, many depend on distant work, financial savings, or U.S.-based revenue streams — a dynamic that enables them to profit from decrease prices with out collaborating totally within the native labor market.
