The beautiful thing about being an expat is that you can live anywhere. Choosing your new home is an exciting decision, but it can also feel overwhelming. So what’s the best way to do it? One option is to spin a globe and go wherever your finger lands, you could also try throwing a dart at a map, or just showing up at the airport and buying whatever ticket is available. Leaving important decisions to chance works out great for people in the movies, but probably isn’t ideal outside of Hollywood.
Opportunities to design our lives are few and far between but deciding to move abroad is one of them. How do we ensure the choice we make will maximize our happiness? Well, systematically of course! What could be more fun than making a data-driven decision?
In early 2016 my wife and I used these 6 steps and a series of family meetings to determine where we wanted to live. This system worked for us and it can work for you too!
1. Devise Your List of Happiness Factors
The first step for determining your ideal expat location is to list out your happiness factors. What do you love about your current city and what would you change if you had the chance? Take the time to figure out what things make you happy. Maybe it has to do with your hobbies, cultural activities, or the climate. Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Availability to pursue your hobbies: Golf courses, ski resorts, tennis courts, biking, hiking, and running trails
- Cultural activities: theater productions, museums, live music
- Proximity to the beach or mountains
- Healthcare
- Language
- Access to direct flights to your family
- Metro or other excellent public transportation
- Ability to apply for citizenship or permanent residence
- Access to certain jobs / industries
My wife and I made the following list before deciding to move from Washington, DC to Barcelona, Spain.
2. Rank Your Happiness Factors
The next step is to rank your happiness factors. Some may be at the top of your lists and are “100% non-negotiable” (a ferret friendly city). Others might just be “nice to have” (close to the beach AND the mountains). Ranking your happiness factors allows you to narrow your list from 195 potential countries and thousands of cities to the top contenders.
Here’s how my wife and I ranked our list. The most important things for us were to be in Europe, in a city where it doesn’t snow, and close to other key travel locations.
3. Build Your List of Potential Expat Locations
Now’s the time to open Google Maps and travel blogs and start dreaming. If you’ve already narrowed your lists to a certain geographical location, language, or cost-of-living this step will be easy. Form a chart by listing the potential cities that meet all of your non-negotiable happiness factors down the Y axis and your happiness factors across the X axis (here’s an Excel template you can use).
Our top three happiness factors narrowed our search down to certain parts of three countries: northern Spain or Italy, or southern France.
Need some help identifying potential cities? Try Googling “Best expat cities for …” followed by one of your happiness factors. Or using two of your happiness factors, for example “Best beach cities with snow skiing” in a Google search.
4. Quantify Your Happiness Factors
Looking at your happiness factors at a high level narrows your list down, but to make a decision you need detailed data. You need to live in a city with a warm climate. How warm? What is the average temperature? How often does it rain? Adjust your happiness factors into questions or quantitative figures that can be answered and compared easily.
Then work to complete your matrix by visiting expat blogs and resources. Here are some of my favorites for comparing cities:
Climate | Typical Weather: www.weatherspark.com
Cost of Living, Health Care, Crime, Pollution: www.numbeo.com
Visas, Jobs, Schools, Culture, Housing: www.justlanded.com
Travel, Access to Flights: www.google.com/flights
5. Narrow Down & Eliminate
Comparing potential locations using data can provide a lot of clarity. By now you should be able to eliminate a few cities that you previously considered. If your list is still large, see if there are any additional factors or desires that could cut your list down further.
For example, after my wife and I narrowed down our choices we decided that living in a Spanish speaking country would be a lot of fun because we both previously studied the language and wanted to improve our skills. We also liked the idea of being on the coast and in a city with a beach. Adding those factors helped us make a final decision.
6. Visit Your Top Location(s)
The final step in determining your ideal expat location is the best part: the visit! Depending on how long you plan on living in the location, the difficulty of moving after arrival, and the degree to which you are integrating, different numbers or lengths of visits may be warranted.
“The best way to make [a decision] is you collect as much data you can, you immerse yourself in that data, but then you make that decision with your heart.” – Jeff Bezos
If you’re only going to live in your ideal expat location for 6 months, it may not even be necessary to visit before moving. You may be able to figure out everything you need to know by reading expat blogs and researching online. However, if you’re choosing your retirement home and plan to ship all of your belongings across the sea, a few visits are certainly warranted.
Start with a week: Take your next vacation to visit your top location. Sure, see the sights, but try to get off the tourist path too. Visit local neighborhoods, try smaller restaurants, and visit a few grocery stores. Could you see yourself living there?
Take the city for a test drive: If your first visit was in the summer, try visiting in the winter or the rainy season. Book an AirBNB and stay in a neighborhood you’d want to live in. Organize some meetings or activities with locals and expats through Facebook groups or Internations. Attend Church or try to participate in a club or activity that you’d plan to be a part of after moving. Could you see yourself living there year-round?
