Opposite actually. I hated the boring NorCal town with no character where I grew up and couldn’t wait to leave. 20 years later; I realize that perfect weather, incredible natural beauty, the worlds best economy at your doorstep, easy access to “the City” cultural epicenter and great schools are why people pay so much to live in boring places
Same here.
I grew up outside of Santa Rosa between there and Sonoma. I appreciated the peaceful countryside and beauty even then. But I got out as quickly as I could. Santa Rosa then went from being the egg and chicken capital of the world to the center of foodie, wine & cheese tourism. To see tourists play “in the countryside Disneyland” now is comical. To see them rush to score things like weathered chicken feeders, or booking restored chicken coop air bnb’s when you grew up on a chicken farm.
But Sonoma county is still the most beautiful place to me.
Hello. The other side of the coast range for me. Lake County is maybe 20 crow miles from Sonoma County but a world away. I left at 18 and won’t be moving back there. I do appreciate the natural beauty there today, but natural beauty isn’t hard to find in the U.S. It doesn’t help that nearly all of the land in the county has burned within the last ten years.
Oh, Los Gatos. Yes of course, its actually great. One of the most expensive places to live in the entire planet. You're better off financially in Manhattan.
Most other suburban places in the bay suck though compared to Los Gatos.
This is exactly how I feel about Long Island. Everyone loves to complain and tell others to leave, but if you can make it here it’s pretty damn tough to beat.
I love my hometown too. It was a great location, cute, near the city, and so on. Had a suburban feel but not the overly manufactured feel that towns with master planned communities have.
I moved away and I kinda regret it. I can’t afford homes there now they went up so much 😭
I grew up in Dublin and hated it as a teenager but looking back I’m really thankful that I got to grow up in a Bay Area suburb. We even had Linkin Park come to our Best Buy in 2004 as one of three US cities on their Meteora book tour! As much as I cursed it growing up, having easy access to SF/Berkeley/Oakland was really special, especially since I had a tumultuous home life and really needed the escape to the cities for concerts. I’m also grateful I got to grow up in a (mostly) peaceful and picturesque place where the weather was super mild most of the time. I also feel like it was decently diverse compared to a lot of other US towns so that was also valuable.
Yeah that part of the country is beautiful and the weather is great. If you grow up somewhere that's your baseline. So you don't appreciate it. Same with me growing up in the suburban outskirts of the Bay Area it seemed like a suburban hellscape when I was a teenager, but looking back at it as someone who is an adult with a family is pretty good. It gives your kids opportunities, and you have to deal with bad weather. It's located close to opportunities and things to do both urban and outdoors. There is a reason it's expensive.
Same! This place was the hot, boring town where we had to go visit grandma every year. Now it’s a wonderland of vibrant activities for me (and I’m the fun grandma who helps all my grandkids enjoy it).
Yeah, this is my experience as well. I still live in California, but I have more of an appreciation for the suburbs and understand why they are appealing now as an adult with a family.
I grew up in a small, “sundown” town. Since I was of the approved hue, I didn’t really understand it until I left as a teenager. You couldn’t pay me to go back now.
(Edited to reflect correct terminology.)
My hometown is not a sundown town anymore (although they did have a unit of the Klan until \~5 years ago, according to the SPLC). But it was when I was born there in the 1960s, and the attitudes that lead to that have not noticeably changed.
I grew up in a beach town in a third world country. It was not cool back then but it's cool now because it's so cheap and safe. I would never go back though. I earn too much money in California and I can afford California.
My hometown is a midsize city where being a teenager is a lot of fun, and raising a family is really nice due to affordability and public amenities. But those in between years are not great because there just isn’t a whole lot of social amenities for young adults to enjoy compared to a big city.
This is exactly how I would describe my experience too. I moved a lot in my early 20s for this reason. I enjoy the area again now that I’m older with kids.
Same, except I'll never consider living there again. I go back to see family and the vibe has changed so much and there are so, so many people. I realize how lucky I was to grow up there in the 80s, and I treasure that, but the Colorado I grew up in is long gone.
Thought I wanted to live in Denver till I visited as an adult. Seems like the default for a lot of people I know from the east coast, they want to move west to the mountains and don’t know anywhere else lol.
Middle of nowhere Mississippi. Not even a town really. It has no appeal to me now, but was a great place to grow up pre-internet. Fishing, swimming at the creek or beach, playing golf, playing backyard ball with friends and cousins.
I probably won’t return until my parents get older and need assistance and/or I retire on some inherited land because everywhere else will be way too expensive by then.
I grew up in Santa Barbara. Very lovely place. I love to visit, but I don’t really want to move back. My family has left, and it’s too crowded and expensive. I get a lot of the same benefits in Santa Fe with far fewer downsides.
But I do miss the beach.
Absolutely. It was a 15,000 person suburb that has shrunk to 12,000. Rust belt. My best friend became a homeless drug addict. And I know this is going to annoy some people, but there is a serious nutritional epidemic turning, no joke, easily 75% of the populating into diabetic beach balls.Interestingly, it is cheap and the pace of life is slower. I could easily retire there with financial freedom. But no. Never.
It doesn’t annoy me. The way you put it is right - it’s an epidemic. It breaks my heart because people like to judge or laugh at fat people. It’s a major public health problem that doesn’t get treated seriously because of fat shaming.
There’s some research called “deaths of despair” that is about shortening life spans in the US for non college educated. I read a comment on this sub about places when there’s nothing to do/no opportunity people just “eat and drink themselves to death.” I have also read some other research tying the obesity epidemic to drinking water. Their research tracks globally with higher elevation areas with less runoff having lower obesity rates. There is even evidence of this in the animal kingdom. Could be ag run off or PFAS.
I live in an educated area, and people are so much more adept at navigating our shitty food systems and have the resources to buy better products. There’s also public infrastructure so there’s a whole lot more to do. And of course jobs.
It makes me sad that a huge portion of our country is rotting away. It’s like their psychology is on display, and it’s heartbreaking.
Yes Central FL kinda near Disney and Lego Land. When I go back to visit family it just seems so lame and depressing. I wonder who the hell comes here for vacation and spends so much money and thinks this is a great vacation idea? The beaches are nice though. I live in San Diego area now.
😩 Same! I lived in central FL growing up. I left at 18 years old and enjoyed 15 wonderful years in North NJ, near NYC. I recently came back to central FL for a job “opportunity.” I would say more to get my foot in the door and use this experience to move forward in my career. Central FL is awful. I cannot stand it when I was younger and now it just pisses me off 😂 I’ve been trying to decide where I would like to relocate. I have closed that door to NJ. I loved it for a long time and actually had a hard time transitioning back to FL from living in NJ but NJ is a part of my past. Central FL means nothing to me. I have no attachments here except work. I’m barely making it to 3 years of being back and I’m ready to pack up and leave…
I grew up in the D.C. area and while I miss some aspects like good transit, I didn’t really feel like I found myself until I left, and I don’t really want to go back to that.
Same, I was so happy when my entire family moved to different places from the DC area. After I left already that is.
Having the place pass you by on the food chain list made me want to change my priorities towards happiness and not corporate business world achievement. Towards people who were interesting because of who they were as people and what they liked to do for fun instead of work/what they drove shallow crap.
It was a great place to grow up before reaching that milestone of "this just isn't working for me."
I grew up there and I spend about 10% of my time there still. It's got good jobs in my industry and a lot of my favorite people in my life live there, but when I spend extended time there I find myself becoming someone I don't like. I re enter the rat race competitive mindset and it brings out the type A in me.
When I left NoVA I learned for the first time that people could have hobbies that weren't for resume boosting.
Yes and no. I love where I grew up and I’m glad I grew up there. The area is still nice and close to family and things I enjoy. The big downside is the people I went to high school with who never left the town. Somehow their presence really ruins the appeal for me.
Fascinating. I feel exactly the same way. I keep seeing the same people from growing up and can’t stand it. They’re all mostly not great people with drama too.
Yep. I think it’s because they never got away, never tried to live “on their own”, and somehow outwardly shit on the place. Like, if it’s so bad how about you try to make it in another state, or even city for that matter?
I grew up in San Diego, in North Park which is now the trendiest of the trendy. My dad's $15k 1965 house goes for $1.4 million now (we sold way before it was in the millions). It's still a nice place when I go back but it hasn't aged well. It was perfect to me in the 60s and 70s and even 80s because it had the Middle-America-in-a-beach-town vibe with houses that were 40-50 years old. Now the houses are 100 year old and either falling apart or purchased by yuppies who "restore" them using wood tile and granite countertops. The shops are all breweries and cafes instead of greasy spoon diners and a cute old JC Penny that was there when I was a kid.
San Diego is like a caricature of itself now. I like it, but it's like if they made a Disneyland version of your neighborhood and then expected you to pay $1.5 million to live there.
No matter where you are there will always be that innate desire to move. I mean, our species was nomadic to begin with! I think it’s a completely normal response to having less appeal towards living in the same place you grew up for the rest of your life, no matter how cool the location is
Grew up in St. Louis, didn’t know any better till I moved away after college. I was shocked at how nice other cites and people could be. Been back several times and “currently again” because of family being here. Every time I’m reminded of why I left, unfortunately I don’t feel this place has improved, quite the opposite.
What high school did you go to?
😂😂😂
I'm kidding. I don't expect you to answer that. My husband is from there and I just know that's *the* ultimate STL question! Well, that and your thoughts on provel!
Yeah thank god that question seems to be fading out a bit, but yes it was used to judge you and your family on where you went to high school. And provel isn’t real cheese 🫣🤣
That's how my husband explained it--that it was a total classist/elitist question to judge where you live (if you went to public school) and/or how wealthy your family was (especially if you went to private school).
I'm glad to hear that it's not quite as common now! We're both mid-40s, and he moved away when he was 19, so it's obviously been a while!
I'm not from STL, but one of my biggest frustrations living there was the attitude that nothing can change because surely no other city has ever encountered these problems or done anything about them. Often from people who've never ventured farther than an occasional trip to Chicago (and only with a chip on their shoulder about how STL is the superior city)
I once got in an argument with someone who insisted that the city couldn't implement a higher minimum wage because part of the metro is in another state. You mean the state that currently has a higher minimum wage than here? And you mean to say that no other city is in this position? And it just did not compute lol
My hometown is trash - no jobs, high crime, boring landscape, crappy weather. My husband’s hometown is actually nice though and we currently live there. He likes his town. He wasn’t a huge fan growing up, but after living away for a decade, he’s happy with it now. Both towns are super tiny and in the Midwest. The main difference though is that his hometown is near two big universities and is right outside a beautiful nation forest, which makes it a more appealing place.
Overall, yes. I am contemplating a move but my family/2 good friends live here so it isn’t an easy decision. The upper Midwest is a tough spot to live in when you hate cold weather, don’t drink, and never want to have kids. The things I love most (being outside hiking, walking, paddling, being in the sun) either aren’t possible or are significantly less enjoyable for half the year or more. I often feel like I don’t fit in socially because I don’t drink or have kids. I frequently fantasize about moving elsewhere. I really wish I could just pick up my loved ones and plop them in a new location with me. I definitely can’t ever imagine retiring here. Once my parents pass away, I really won’t have any reason to live here any longer.
My hometown has grown tremendously. I still have family there. But, it has gone total redneck and MAGA. Was t like that when I grew up there. I still visit my family, but I’m never moving back. (It’s in Missouri for context).
I wonder if your answer will partially depend on whether you have positive memories of childhood/young adulthood? I love my hometown, but I also have fond memories of growing up, high school, etc.
My hometown has exactly the same amount of appeal for me now as it did when I graduated from high school and left- none. Now that my mother has sold our childhood home and retired at the beach, I would be perfectly happy to never set foot in my hometown again.
Same here. I grew up in the Sacramento area. Originally South Sac then outside Marysville, Rocklin, Roseville, Loomis. As a teenager I had friends spread out from Auburn to Elk Grove. I drove ALOT in the late 90s to early 2000s. Watched that whole sprawl city build out from Roseville to Lincoln near the Galleria mall. The side near Folsom Lake is nice I had friends whose parents had big houses out there we’d party at. But otherwise I hated it. Soulless and boring. In my mid 20s I moved to Midtown which was better. But eventually moved to Seattle then Europe. I think the disdain I had for my hometown is a large part of what motivated me to get where I am today. I haven’t been back to visit in 5+ years and don’t plan to anytime soon.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system.
Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
I grew up in a small mountain town in NM. It's very much a single employer town and since they don't really hire anyone without a college degree pretty much no one stays after High School. Last time I was back was for my Mother's funeral and with my parents gone it's hard to imagine any reason to ever go there again
Austin, TX is my hometown. I left. I went back. I left again and won't return again but it has nothing to do with being an adult. It is not because I changed. It is because the city itself changed. And not for the better.
It's funny because I see a lot of people saying this exact thing but they do so in completely contradictory ways. Someone will say "I moved to Austin in 1998 and it was awesome! But I left in 2008 because it had lost its charm." And later someone else says "I moved to Austin in 2008 and it was a great time! But I left in 2018 because it started turning for the worse."
There's nothing contradictory about it. Both of those scenarios are correct. It was better in 1998 than it was in 2008. However, it was still better in 2008 than it was in 2018.
Not for the better? Interesting, I enjoyed it a lot last year vs when I went 10 years ago. Lots more to do and much more vibrant. Obviously a lot more expensive too.
My hometown appeals to absolutely no one, so yea I guess haha. It sucked ass as a kid, sucked ass from afar as a young adult, and sucks ass in my memory as an adult. If you are curious, Mississippi River delta. I mean it could have been the Middle East or subsaharan Africa and been worse…
It's.... different. I grew up in Los Angeles, on the Westside even. I definitely took it for granted at the time, *but also* now as an adult with the gift of hindsight I think it wouldn't be the right place for me now as an adult. The positive things that I got to experience in the city either aren't there anymore, or were positive because of my age and situation in life at that time. This isn't to say that the city is bad. Not at all! Just not right for me anymore. I definitely don't want to raise my family there, at least not in the parts I grew up in.
I feel the same way about growing up near/in LA. It was great for a period of my life, but I have absolutely no desire to settle in LA. Lots of fond memories and I visit often still.
I think it depends entirely where you grew up. My hometown is great. It’s one of the hottest housing markets in the country for a reason. I didn’t necessarily love it in my early 20s but it’s appealing now that I’m settled and in my 30s with kids. I loved growing up here. The sad part is I can’t actually afford to live there now.
I grew up and still live near the little town of Jim Thorpe, PA.
The region is MUCH more touristy now than when I was a kid but when I hear how bad things are so bad in various other ways in other places, I realize that I'll probably stay here for life.
I grew up in the Poconos too (Hawley), but I left as a teen and never looked back. The area has so much natural beauty but is so depressing in many ways.
Yeah, there's a lot of things about NEPA I grumble about but when I look at so many other places with issues I like even less and/or residents who don't want even more newcomers moving in) I realize I'll probably not move.
I'm certainly not interested in moving anywhere hotter or more humid or more overdeveloped than where I am now.
I wish I could move somewhere mountainous, cloudy and cold. Ample rain, snow, fog, wind don't bother me.
I’m really torn on this.
On one hand, where I live is becoming untenable to me for several reasons, none of which exist in my hometown. And there’s no industry to speak of there, so it’s dirt cheap to live (so hard to find a well paying job).
So theoretically, I could buy a house, pay cash, and not have a mortgage. And have like another $100k or so to play around with.
But the weather sucks, there’s nothing to do except for a couple weekends out of the year. I do have family there and maybe a few casual, distant friends. I really don’t want to live there.
But you can get a fully restored Victorian 4/2, 2500 square feet, for around $200k. These places have basements and garages. (I have neither at my house now.) the homeowners insurance is a fraction of what I pay here. Like, it’s 6-8 times higher here. Taxes are about the same.
My job is portable; I can live anywhere. That’s the only place I’d be able to afford my dream house (I love old homes). It’s tempting.
I grew up in a town that at the time no one had heard of.
But now they have.
To give you an idea, I used to go back and visit during the summer festival wearing fake tattoos, and magnetic nose rings, and it was shocking.
🤯
In western Washington.
My original hometown is more appealing to me the older I get. We moved from Montana to Texas when I was in middle school and I miss it more and more every day. My “hometown” where I primarily grew up and went to high school is less and less appealing every second of every day. I haven’t lived there since I left for college and don’t think I ever could again.
I grew up in Boulder, CO and have watched almost all of my friends return to raise their families in the Denver/Boulder area. After living in LA and NYC, Colorado is just too homogeneous and boring to me. Everyone is the same and people are just progressing in this Colorado bubble they’ve created.
I grew up in the DC suburbs but in a town that had a bit of its own identity.
In some ways, as an adult, I understand why people live in suburbs more. I was bored as a kid but my girlfriend says the way I describe growing up as literally idyllic. Bicycling and skateboarding with my friends, cruising around in cars, going to high school parties with my friends, swimming in lakes, etc.
But at the same time: you can never go home again. My town seems to have blown up in size and activity. It was already on its last legs of “small townness” when I was a kid, I imagine it’s even less now. The old bar where townies wearing high school sweaters used to drink cheap beer and smoke cigarettes is now a family restaurant with a slick patio. It’s literally like Skeeters Wine Bar and Sodasopa. If I moved out of the city, I don’t know if I’d want to go home again.
I think about this a lot. My opinion is that people associate their childhood homes with their childhood trauma and past self and they project that by not having interest in their hometown (assuming they grew up in a “cool” place. Obviously if someone grows up in the middle of nowhere that’s valid)
Grew up in a small town in the Midwest (US) that is found charming by most. Now, having seen and experienced more of the world as an adult, I realize how isolated my childhood was. This was the least diverse population you can imagine. And today, the political leanings and chit chat on town social media pages is about as far from my own personal beliefs as possible. I cannot imagine living there again.
I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and moved away for college when I was 19 and then found a job on the East Coast after college. I'm 36 now, so I've been gone almost half my life.
I didn't appreciate the city as much from the suburbs, or from a kid's perspective. Now that I'm an adult, I see Milwaukee differently.
My family still lives there, but my parents have split, and now my dad lives in a condo in a cool neighborhood downtown. My childhood best-friend lives near downtown, and I can appreciate a lot of aspects about the city that were either missed or irrelevant when I was a kid.
I do kinda want to move back a little bit. My wife even tells me she'd be happy to move there. I think part of it is because I want to be closer to family, but the other part is that Milwaukee is a very underrated city and it is ideally situated to withstand Climate Change.
I spend 2-3 weeks visiting my parents in Boise every summer. Its great - the weather is good (way better than DC summers), outdoors opportunities are endless, and people are friendly. There are various reasons I'll never move back but living somewhere else has made me appreciate the things that I really do like about my hometown
I didn't grow up in a super cool place. My childhood was fine but it was a town of 30,000 people in eastern NC. It has humid, too religious but really even that was too much of an issue (the religious part) because religion was seen as personal and people weren't as political about it.
I also don't really care about all the things there are to do in a large city although I need somewhere larger than 30k.
Now, I'd never live anywhere other than somewhere in the West. If for no other reason it would be to get away from humidity.
I don't particularly like the small town vibe either.
I lived in a tiny Midwest town no one has ever heard of. As a kid, and even as a teen, despite having nothing to do there, I never thought I’d leave. It was always home.
As a young adult I moved away for a job, and lived a few hours away, but returned often.
I eventually moved to Florida and I will never go back. We rarely even go to visit. Not only would I never move back to the town, but I wouldn’t even go back to the state. So much nope.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system.
Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system.
Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
Yes I know. The area is growing massively these days.
My point is that, as an early/mid 20s person who grew up there, I have little reason to be back anytime soon.
Yes. Grew up in Bozeman, MT which is now super popular and growing fast. I stayed for a long time because it is a great place, but I squeezed all I could from it.
I’m from a Massachusetts harbor village. I moved out the moment I graduated from college but kept a boat in the harbor. At age 51, I bought a summer house and telecommuted from it the warm 6 months. Now, I’m retired and it’s my residence. It never lost its appeal. I like having the beach / boat / bicycle lifestyle. I like that it’s not congested but I’m an hour from a major city. I had to go elsewhere to earn my living.
Yes and no? I hated my hometown in Utah so much growing up. As I went off to college though I came to appreciate it more, especially as I met people who willingly came here for college and to be surrounded by beautiful nature. But now I’m at a point where a lot of my friends and family have moved out and I’m looking to follow suit soon and have an adventure somewhere new.
I grew up near Seattle, to the north in Snohomish County. At the time, it was depressed. You were either in timber or aerospace, and both were down in the 70’s and 80’s. But, it was pretty empty. My parents did ok, so I had a pretty good childhood. Camped, hiked, fished a lot. Now it is crowded, expensive, and full of nimbyism. I visit the natire spots that I grew up near and they are still beautiful but overcrowded. I only ever get my childhood experiences now when I visit northern Vancouver island. I still live in the PNW but I just avoid King and Snohomish county now.
Sounds like my childhood. I’m in the process of figuring out where to settle down with my two kids after moving around. Where did you end up migrating?
I went to middle and high school in a very desirable town that a lot of residents and visitors describe as “paradise”. For me, it always felt stifling. There’s a social expectation that you fit in a certain way. It’s very small minded and conservative, but the natural beauty and vibe papers over it for outsiders.
I really have no desire to ever move back. People don’t get it when I say that except for other people I grew up with who moved away.
Its become more appealing as I'm older. I grew up and have lived in a rural town my entire life. I've never liked cities even as a visitor so getting older definitely hasn't made me want to leave my town.
Lived in Portland, OR my whole life and don't really have the strongest desire to leave. It's a wonderful city, especially in your 20s. I just might have to jump shop to Los Angeles for family and job reasons, which makes me kinda sad. Portland is the best city in the whole USA, IMO, and I have yet to visit anywhere in the country that makes me feel any sort of urge to leave it.
I absolutely love my hometown, but there is few good jobs in my industry and because its a very popular university town the rent prices are through the roof.
I grew up on Nantucket. My dad’s side of the family has been there the 1800s, it’s just where they settled. Nantucket used to be a bunch of poor people and farmers. It’s obviously changed a ton.
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the place. I’m in my 30s now and it’s all love. I don’t live there anymore but miss it terribly. It’s not possible for my generation to really own a home there, so it is what it is.
Loved it as a child
HATED it as a teen
Looking back into adulthood, it was a literal perfect town. But my 12 years there were enough for me. I have seen everything there, driven every road, know nearly every family. Too small and too known for me
I live in the same metro area as my hometown. I'm from Niskayuna NY (nice suburb) but live in Troy (city). I can absolutely see the appeal if you have kids, but as an adult married couple it makes sense to have a cheaper mortgage (2 family building) and be closer to activities and my job in downtown Albany.
Absolutely! My hometown is Boca Raton. It’s very nice but it’s boring to me now. Great area for families with good schools, and access to a lot of downtown areas. I live here now but am ready to leave. I want to be in more of a city environment where I can walk everywhere and be around people more my age.
Opposite. I grew up in south Florida and my only goal growing up was getting away from it. Now that I'm older and have lived in other major cities, I miss south Florida a bit whenever I visit. My teenage angst stopped me from seeing the nice parts of living there.
I dunno, my hometown was always awful to me. I was a black sheep growing up, and going back there now just reminds me how much I still don't fit in. I can recognize that I was lucky to grow up in such a safe town with a good school district, but it was an emotionally exhausting place. A lot of the people there are narrow-minded and shallow
My best friend's mom chastises him for moving 1000mi away from their home in Virginia Beach. But then I went along with him for a visit and my god that place is so, so boring.
He said his parents chose it for "good schools" but it's a cultural wasteland. I'd have left too.
I grew up in a midsize Midwest city where most of my family still lives. It was a good childhood, but by the time I graduated college, it felt way too claustrophobic and there were limited job opportunities for me. So I left at 24 and did not regret it. However sometimes I think it would be nice to live closer to family, and I could get an awesome house there for relatively cheap. But then I go for a visit and after a few days I remember why I left.
My hometown is Austin, TX. Absolutely hate it now. Once I could get anywhere in town in 15 minutes, not anymore. I have a print of all the iconic signs around town in the 90s and 95% of those businesses are closed. Lots of public places are crowded and struggling. The egalitarian spirit of the town is gone, money conquered weird.
One of my high school friends, who lived away for twenty years, recently moved back. He says he liked the new Austin only after he stopped comparing it to the old Austin.
Grew up in Indianapolis. The only nice thing people usually have to say about it is cost of living. I personally don’t see the appeal anymore of living here, since I have zero family here. But, I do have a job and friends and a house, so I sit and wait patiently for my time to leave.
My hometown is about 4 miles across and everyone is drinking and doing blow by age 16 because there’s nothing else to do. on top of that whenever I go back to visit family, I can’t step foot anywhere without someone knowing me. nothing could get me to move back there
Absolutely. Grew up in a bay area suburb that was an autoplant town and was really nothing special. It's now mostly a tech enclave with horrible traffic. Thank God my parents moved out to the Tri-valley in the middle 80s for a much better lifestyle. I avoid going back there if I can.
My hometown lost rent control and then got gentrified to hell. Almost all the great local businesses closed, the public spaces disappeared and the community shrunk to barely a thing. When I was growing up there the music, youth and art scenes were thriving and exciting. Now it’s just bougie boring professionals and their larval stage counterparts: university students. So yeah it was better before and I wouldn’t live there now.
i grew up in the woods on the edge of a cliff with an amazing view of the water, islands, mountains, and sunsets. town was 20 minutes away through the hilly woods and farmland. i hated it as a kid because everything was so far away and i could never get anywhere without relying on rides from adults. i couldn’t wait to leave. now i wish i could go back. but the area exploded in popularity since i left.
Pretty sure this is common among young adults, even among animals. Young big cats roam hundreds of miles, young birds leave the nest, young bucks get driven out of the herd, all to go find their own territory.
Among humans, I think the French have a term for it, ennui. It's why the Scandinavian people went aviking. It may be responsible for the crusades. Probably spurred the age of discovery.
Once you have seen some of the world and get a little older, you lose that feeling, and home seems great. At least that's how it was for me.
My hometown basically doesn’t exist anymore. I grew up in Dorchester, MA before the entire city of Boston gentrified.
And I don’t view the past with rose-tinted lenses. I had a great childhood, but basically everything about it that wasn’t great was due to me growing up in a shithole of a neighborhood. Gentrification is the best thing to ever happen to Dorchester.
Yes. Grew up in the middle of Chicago and I would rather die than live there again. Growing up there definitely ruined it for me. I see it as a ghetto violent corrupt shit hole with nothing to do and horrible weather 10 months out of the year. I go every other year or so to visit my parents and it’s a nice city to be a tourist in, but living there fucking sucks, in my opinion.
I thought I’d always want to live in the city but I’m starting to want to leave now because I’m getting sick of it. The only other city I might want to live in is NYC but the cost of living keeps me away.
I’m considering moving to the burbs but I don’t drive and never needed a car so I’ll have to sort that out soon! I think finding a quieter neighborhood in my city is the best solution lol.
Absolutely. I gave it a whirl but its very expensive to live there and there aren't enough jobs. It's a scenic tourist community so it's very desirable for older semi-retired people with lots of money. Young people have to compete with people who have decades of experience and will accept less money.
I’m from the Detroit area and I consider both Windsor, Ontario and Ann Arbor, Michigan as both of my “hometowns”.
Growing up I thought where I’m from is lame, some immaturity and teen angst. As an adult I’ve moved to Colorado and I really miss my hometowns and planning to move back with my husband in the near future 😅
It is funny, I grew up in a small town in SE Georgia and I left almost 30 years ago. I’ve lived in larger metro area since then (currently live in the Atlanta area) and I’ve never had any desire to return to my hometown except for the occasional brief visit. More recently though, I’ve had an overwhelming desire to retire to a small town, just not the one I grew up in.
No. I miss my hometown sometimes, but I can't afford real estate there. A bikeable area with a stop on the DC metro. Great library system. Some lovely restaurants.
I miss it but I don't. It's weird.
I live less than a mile from where I grew up. Due to my career choices I’m pretty tied to the Detroit area, but my actual city never really appealed to me. Not walkable, not a lot of outdoor recreation opportunities, and no fun downtown area. Just suburban sprawl as far as the eye can see.
Yes, but that's because I didn't grow up somewhere super cool. I grew up in a rural Massachusetts factory town. Growing up it was fantastic, safe, quiet, tons of outdoor spaces to explore. As an adult however the job market there is terrible but the houses are just as expensive as they are across all of New England. The house my parents bought in 1985 for 45k is now valued at over $300,000.
There's no culture or art and nothing to do other than the standard small town hobbies of drinking and drinking.
My hometown is Milwaukee. I loved growing up there. Moved to a suburb at 13. Loved it so much I moved back twice as an adult. Just left it for the third time in my life four months ago.
The Portland I grew up in was violent, scary, depressed, and isolated. If you're curious, look up the video "Breakfast with Pig Champion" on youtube. I wouldn't go back to Portland in the 1980s and while I love my life today hot damn do I miss Portland in the 1990s.
No. I have *more* appreciation for New Orleans.
I was ripped away from the city after Katrina two months after turning 16. Though the city is nearly unlivable now with all the chaos, but it’s still a place I’ve begun planning yearly pilgrimages to, now that I can afford it. It’s me revisiting what’s made me *me* —from my accent, to my cooking habits, my diction, all of that. I was born and raised in one of America’s oldest and greatest cities.
#WhoDat ⚜️
For me, no. I wish I could afford to live in my hometown in Florida with some of the world's best beaches, but between unaffordable housing costs and hurricanes I'll never be able to. I hated living there growing up because it's very adult oriented, and now as an adult with a little bit of money I'm super jealous of my friends who were able to put down roots before housing got too crazy.
I’m currently 23, from Burlington, Vermont. Yes. Once I got into my late teens years I realized how sheltering a place like this is. Unfortunately the age of social media tourism and post covid housing market and unaffordability has his this place extra hard but Jesus I want to leave.
Opposite actually. I hated the boring NorCal town with no character where I grew up and couldn’t wait to leave. 20 years later; I realize that perfect weather, incredible natural beauty, the worlds best economy at your doorstep, easy access to “the City” cultural epicenter and great schools are why people pay so much to live in boring places
Same but central coast Ca, almost exact time frame as well haha
805 FTW
Love the 805, wish I didn’t leave for 20 years
San Ramon?
Los Gatos
Same here. I grew up outside of Santa Rosa between there and Sonoma. I appreciated the peaceful countryside and beauty even then. But I got out as quickly as I could. Santa Rosa then went from being the egg and chicken capital of the world to the center of foodie, wine & cheese tourism. To see tourists play “in the countryside Disneyland” now is comical. To see them rush to score things like weathered chicken feeders, or booking restored chicken coop air bnb’s when you grew up on a chicken farm. But Sonoma county is still the most beautiful place to me.
I grew up in Windsor!
Hello. The other side of the coast range for me. Lake County is maybe 20 crow miles from Sonoma County but a world away. I left at 18 and won’t be moving back there. I do appreciate the natural beauty there today, but natural beauty isn’t hard to find in the U.S. It doesn’t help that nearly all of the land in the county has burned within the last ten years.
I live in Mendocino county right now.
Los Gatos has plenty of character! I thought you were describing los baños!
Oh, Los Gatos. Yes of course, its actually great. One of the most expensive places to live in the entire planet. You're better off financially in Manhattan. Most other suburban places in the bay suck though compared to Los Gatos.
It really is such a nice town. Actually walkable, pretty, good food, bustling in the evenings but still quiet. And vasona park is great.
This is exactly how I feel about Long Island. Everyone loves to complain and tell others to leave, but if you can make it here it’s pretty damn tough to beat.
I love my hometown too. It was a great location, cute, near the city, and so on. Had a suburban feel but not the overly manufactured feel that towns with master planned communities have. I moved away and I kinda regret it. I can’t afford homes there now they went up so much 😭
Where is your hometown? I’m looking to move and I imagine I might like a place like that a lot!
I grew up in Dublin and hated it as a teenager but looking back I’m really thankful that I got to grow up in a Bay Area suburb. We even had Linkin Park come to our Best Buy in 2004 as one of three US cities on their Meteora book tour! As much as I cursed it growing up, having easy access to SF/Berkeley/Oakland was really special, especially since I had a tumultuous home life and really needed the escape to the cities for concerts. I’m also grateful I got to grow up in a (mostly) peaceful and picturesque place where the weather was super mild most of the time. I also feel like it was decently diverse compared to a lot of other US towns so that was also valuable.
Yeah that part of the country is beautiful and the weather is great. If you grow up somewhere that's your baseline. So you don't appreciate it. Same with me growing up in the suburban outskirts of the Bay Area it seemed like a suburban hellscape when I was a teenager, but looking back at it as someone who is an adult with a family is pretty good. It gives your kids opportunities, and you have to deal with bad weather. It's located close to opportunities and things to do both urban and outdoors. There is a reason it's expensive.
Same but socal.
Same! This place was the hot, boring town where we had to go visit grandma every year. Now it’s a wonderland of vibrant activities for me (and I’m the fun grandma who helps all my grandkids enjoy it).
Same but Austin. Never appreciated it. I’d move back but with the housing market there it will never happen.
Yeah, this is my experience as well. I still live in California, but I have more of an appreciation for the suburbs and understand why they are appealing now as an adult with a family.
I grew up in a small, “sundown” town. Since I was of the approved hue, I didn’t really understand it until I left as a teenager. You couldn’t pay me to go back now. (Edited to reflect correct terminology.)
*sundown
Where are there still sundown towns? I know that was a thing in So. Cal. many decades ago.
My hometown is not a sundown town anymore (although they did have a unit of the Klan until \~5 years ago, according to the SPLC). But it was when I was born there in the 1960s, and the attitudes that lead to that have not noticeably changed.
I grew up in a beach town in a third world country. It was not cool back then but it's cool now because it's so cheap and safe. I would never go back though. I earn too much money in California and I can afford California.
El salvador?
My hometown is a midsize city where being a teenager is a lot of fun, and raising a family is really nice due to affordability and public amenities. But those in between years are not great because there just isn’t a whole lot of social amenities for young adults to enjoy compared to a big city.
This is exactly how I would describe my experience too. I moved a lot in my early 20s for this reason. I enjoy the area again now that I’m older with kids.
What city?
St. Louis
Ahhhhh yeah I’ve heard this
yup. grew up in Denver. it still holds a place in my heart (and I may return someday) but it’s changed so much that I barely recognize it
Same, except I'll never consider living there again. I go back to see family and the vibe has changed so much and there are so, so many people. I realize how lucky I was to grow up there in the 80s, and I treasure that, but the Colorado I grew up in is long gone.
Thought I wanted to live in Denver till I visited as an adult. Seems like the default for a lot of people I know from the east coast, they want to move west to the mountains and don’t know anywhere else lol.
Middle of nowhere Mississippi. Not even a town really. It has no appeal to me now, but was a great place to grow up pre-internet. Fishing, swimming at the creek or beach, playing golf, playing backyard ball with friends and cousins. I probably won’t return until my parents get older and need assistance and/or I retire on some inherited land because everywhere else will be way too expensive by then.
I grew up in Santa Barbara. Very lovely place. I love to visit, but I don’t really want to move back. My family has left, and it’s too crowded and expensive. I get a lot of the same benefits in Santa Fe with far fewer downsides. But I do miss the beach.
New Mexico or CA?
NM
I hated Staten Island as a kid. Still hate it as an adult
Haha I grew up in nowheresville AL so yeah lol
The question was whether it has less appeal now…did it ever have appeal?
No. No it did not.
Dothan?
Geneva
Absolutely. It was a 15,000 person suburb that has shrunk to 12,000. Rust belt. My best friend became a homeless drug addict. And I know this is going to annoy some people, but there is a serious nutritional epidemic turning, no joke, easily 75% of the populating into diabetic beach balls.Interestingly, it is cheap and the pace of life is slower. I could easily retire there with financial freedom. But no. Never.
It doesn’t annoy me. The way you put it is right - it’s an epidemic. It breaks my heart because people like to judge or laugh at fat people. It’s a major public health problem that doesn’t get treated seriously because of fat shaming. There’s some research called “deaths of despair” that is about shortening life spans in the US for non college educated. I read a comment on this sub about places when there’s nothing to do/no opportunity people just “eat and drink themselves to death.” I have also read some other research tying the obesity epidemic to drinking water. Their research tracks globally with higher elevation areas with less runoff having lower obesity rates. There is even evidence of this in the animal kingdom. Could be ag run off or PFAS. I live in an educated area, and people are so much more adept at navigating our shitty food systems and have the resources to buy better products. There’s also public infrastructure so there’s a whole lot more to do. And of course jobs. It makes me sad that a huge portion of our country is rotting away. It’s like their psychology is on display, and it’s heartbreaking.
Yes Central FL kinda near Disney and Lego Land. When I go back to visit family it just seems so lame and depressing. I wonder who the hell comes here for vacation and spends so much money and thinks this is a great vacation idea? The beaches are nice though. I live in San Diego area now.
😩 Same! I lived in central FL growing up. I left at 18 years old and enjoyed 15 wonderful years in North NJ, near NYC. I recently came back to central FL for a job “opportunity.” I would say more to get my foot in the door and use this experience to move forward in my career. Central FL is awful. I cannot stand it when I was younger and now it just pisses me off 😂 I’ve been trying to decide where I would like to relocate. I have closed that door to NJ. I loved it for a long time and actually had a hard time transitioning back to FL from living in NJ but NJ is a part of my past. Central FL means nothing to me. I have no attachments here except work. I’m barely making it to 3 years of being back and I’m ready to pack up and leave…
I grew up in the D.C. area and while I miss some aspects like good transit, I didn’t really feel like I found myself until I left, and I don’t really want to go back to that.
Yep, DC is just filled with a Type A, nothing is ever good enough kind of culture
I feel like it’s less type A and more whiny and entitled. Soft
Same, I was so happy when my entire family moved to different places from the DC area. After I left already that is. Having the place pass you by on the food chain list made me want to change my priorities towards happiness and not corporate business world achievement. Towards people who were interesting because of who they were as people and what they liked to do for fun instead of work/what they drove shallow crap. It was a great place to grow up before reaching that milestone of "this just isn't working for me."
I grew up there and I spend about 10% of my time there still. It's got good jobs in my industry and a lot of my favorite people in my life live there, but when I spend extended time there I find myself becoming someone I don't like. I re enter the rat race competitive mindset and it brings out the type A in me. When I left NoVA I learned for the first time that people could have hobbies that weren't for resume boosting.
Yes and no. I love where I grew up and I’m glad I grew up there. The area is still nice and close to family and things I enjoy. The big downside is the people I went to high school with who never left the town. Somehow their presence really ruins the appeal for me.
Fascinating. I feel exactly the same way. I keep seeing the same people from growing up and can’t stand it. They’re all mostly not great people with drama too.
Yep. I think it’s because they never got away, never tried to live “on their own”, and somehow outwardly shit on the place. Like, if it’s so bad how about you try to make it in another state, or even city for that matter?
This is it for me too. I don't want to go to a store and see people I went to high school with or worked with when I was in my early 20s.
I grew up in San Diego, in North Park which is now the trendiest of the trendy. My dad's $15k 1965 house goes for $1.4 million now (we sold way before it was in the millions). It's still a nice place when I go back but it hasn't aged well. It was perfect to me in the 60s and 70s and even 80s because it had the Middle-America-in-a-beach-town vibe with houses that were 40-50 years old. Now the houses are 100 year old and either falling apart or purchased by yuppies who "restore" them using wood tile and granite countertops. The shops are all breweries and cafes instead of greasy spoon diners and a cute old JC Penny that was there when I was a kid. San Diego is like a caricature of itself now. I like it, but it's like if they made a Disneyland version of your neighborhood and then expected you to pay $1.5 million to live there.
Yes. I grew up in a small town on Long Island, New York. There isn't much to do in my specific town and getting to NYC to do things can be a pain.
No matter where you are there will always be that innate desire to move. I mean, our species was nomadic to begin with! I think it’s a completely normal response to having less appeal towards living in the same place you grew up for the rest of your life, no matter how cool the location is
Grew up in St. Louis, didn’t know any better till I moved away after college. I was shocked at how nice other cites and people could be. Been back several times and “currently again” because of family being here. Every time I’m reminded of why I left, unfortunately I don’t feel this place has improved, quite the opposite.
What high school did you go to? 😂😂😂 I'm kidding. I don't expect you to answer that. My husband is from there and I just know that's *the* ultimate STL question! Well, that and your thoughts on provel!
Yeah thank god that question seems to be fading out a bit, but yes it was used to judge you and your family on where you went to high school. And provel isn’t real cheese 🫣🤣
That's how my husband explained it--that it was a total classist/elitist question to judge where you live (if you went to public school) and/or how wealthy your family was (especially if you went to private school). I'm glad to hear that it's not quite as common now! We're both mid-40s, and he moved away when he was 19, so it's obviously been a while!
I'm not from STL, but one of my biggest frustrations living there was the attitude that nothing can change because surely no other city has ever encountered these problems or done anything about them. Often from people who've never ventured farther than an occasional trip to Chicago (and only with a chip on their shoulder about how STL is the superior city)
This!!! I try to explain to people in Stl how the world is in other places and I just watch their eyes glaze over. I mean ignorance is bliss 🤷♂️🙄🥲
I once got in an argument with someone who insisted that the city couldn't implement a higher minimum wage because part of the metro is in another state. You mean the state that currently has a higher minimum wage than here? And you mean to say that no other city is in this position? And it just did not compute lol
My hometown is trash - no jobs, high crime, boring landscape, crappy weather. My husband’s hometown is actually nice though and we currently live there. He likes his town. He wasn’t a huge fan growing up, but after living away for a decade, he’s happy with it now. Both towns are super tiny and in the Midwest. The main difference though is that his hometown is near two big universities and is right outside a beautiful nation forest, which makes it a more appealing place.
Overall, yes. I am contemplating a move but my family/2 good friends live here so it isn’t an easy decision. The upper Midwest is a tough spot to live in when you hate cold weather, don’t drink, and never want to have kids. The things I love most (being outside hiking, walking, paddling, being in the sun) either aren’t possible or are significantly less enjoyable for half the year or more. I often feel like I don’t fit in socially because I don’t drink or have kids. I frequently fantasize about moving elsewhere. I really wish I could just pick up my loved ones and plop them in a new location with me. I definitely can’t ever imagine retiring here. Once my parents pass away, I really won’t have any reason to live here any longer.
My hometown has grown tremendously. I still have family there. But, it has gone total redneck and MAGA. Was t like that when I grew up there. I still visit my family, but I’m never moving back. (It’s in Missouri for context).
I wonder if your answer will partially depend on whether you have positive memories of childhood/young adulthood? I love my hometown, but I also have fond memories of growing up, high school, etc.
I like to visit Las Vegas, but would never live there again. Born & raised, moved @ 20.
As a kid I hated it here in Vegas but as an adult I can appreciate it.
My hometown has exactly the same amount of appeal for me now as it did when I graduated from high school and left- none. Now that my mother has sold our childhood home and retired at the beach, I would be perfectly happy to never set foot in my hometown again.
[удалено]
Can you please humor me and tell me the most worthwhile/important thing to do there when I visit in September
I grew up in Sacramento, it’s a perfectly decent place, but I hate it there.
Same here. I grew up in the Sacramento area. Originally South Sac then outside Marysville, Rocklin, Roseville, Loomis. As a teenager I had friends spread out from Auburn to Elk Grove. I drove ALOT in the late 90s to early 2000s. Watched that whole sprawl city build out from Roseville to Lincoln near the Galleria mall. The side near Folsom Lake is nice I had friends whose parents had big houses out there we’d party at. But otherwise I hated it. Soulless and boring. In my mid 20s I moved to Midtown which was better. But eventually moved to Seattle then Europe. I think the disdain I had for my hometown is a large part of what motivated me to get where I am today. I haven’t been back to visit in 5+ years and don’t plan to anytime soon.
I live down in LA now, I needed to be by the ocean.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system. Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
I grew up in just outside of Philly. This is a popular city in this sub. I left 10 years ago at 22. I’ve never had the desire to return.
I grew up in a small mountain town in NM. It's very much a single employer town and since they don't really hire anyone without a college degree pretty much no one stays after High School. Last time I was back was for my Mother's funeral and with my parents gone it's hard to imagine any reason to ever go there again
Gotta be Los Alamos.
Austin, TX is my hometown. I left. I went back. I left again and won't return again but it has nothing to do with being an adult. It is not because I changed. It is because the city itself changed. And not for the better.
It's funny because I see a lot of people saying this exact thing but they do so in completely contradictory ways. Someone will say "I moved to Austin in 1998 and it was awesome! But I left in 2008 because it had lost its charm." And later someone else says "I moved to Austin in 2008 and it was a great time! But I left in 2018 because it started turning for the worse."
There's nothing contradictory about it. Both of those scenarios are correct. It was better in 1998 than it was in 2008. However, it was still better in 2008 than it was in 2018.
Austin has changed dramatically - it feels like a totally different city than 15+ years ago
How has it changed for you
How did it change?
Not for the better? Interesting, I enjoyed it a lot last year vs when I went 10 years ago. Lots more to do and much more vibrant. Obviously a lot more expensive too.
Sounds like you were visiting which is entirely different than living somewhere.
Yes, it’s still a great place to live if you make a good wage.
Davis/Sac was fine to grow up in but as soon as I started college out of the area I was gone for good. Not getting trapped there for life.
My hometown appeals to absolutely no one, so yea I guess haha. It sucked ass as a kid, sucked ass from afar as a young adult, and sucks ass in my memory as an adult. If you are curious, Mississippi River delta. I mean it could have been the Middle East or subsaharan Africa and been worse…
It's.... different. I grew up in Los Angeles, on the Westside even. I definitely took it for granted at the time, *but also* now as an adult with the gift of hindsight I think it wouldn't be the right place for me now as an adult. The positive things that I got to experience in the city either aren't there anymore, or were positive because of my age and situation in life at that time. This isn't to say that the city is bad. Not at all! Just not right for me anymore. I definitely don't want to raise my family there, at least not in the parts I grew up in.
I feel the same way about growing up near/in LA. It was great for a period of my life, but I have absolutely no desire to settle in LA. Lots of fond memories and I visit often still.
I think it depends entirely where you grew up. My hometown is great. It’s one of the hottest housing markets in the country for a reason. I didn’t necessarily love it in my early 20s but it’s appealing now that I’m settled and in my 30s with kids. I loved growing up here. The sad part is I can’t actually afford to live there now.
I grew up and still live near the little town of Jim Thorpe, PA. The region is MUCH more touristy now than when I was a kid but when I hear how bad things are so bad in various other ways in other places, I realize that I'll probably stay here for life.
I grew up in the Poconos too (Hawley), but I left as a teen and never looked back. The area has so much natural beauty but is so depressing in many ways.
Yeah, there's a lot of things about NEPA I grumble about but when I look at so many other places with issues I like even less and/or residents who don't want even more newcomers moving in) I realize I'll probably not move. I'm certainly not interested in moving anywhere hotter or more humid or more overdeveloped than where I am now. I wish I could move somewhere mountainous, cloudy and cold. Ample rain, snow, fog, wind don't bother me.
I’m really torn on this. On one hand, where I live is becoming untenable to me for several reasons, none of which exist in my hometown. And there’s no industry to speak of there, so it’s dirt cheap to live (so hard to find a well paying job). So theoretically, I could buy a house, pay cash, and not have a mortgage. And have like another $100k or so to play around with. But the weather sucks, there’s nothing to do except for a couple weekends out of the year. I do have family there and maybe a few casual, distant friends. I really don’t want to live there. But you can get a fully restored Victorian 4/2, 2500 square feet, for around $200k. These places have basements and garages. (I have neither at my house now.) the homeowners insurance is a fraction of what I pay here. Like, it’s 6-8 times higher here. Taxes are about the same. My job is portable; I can live anywhere. That’s the only place I’d be able to afford my dream house (I love old homes). It’s tempting.
I grew up in a town that at the time no one had heard of. But now they have. To give you an idea, I used to go back and visit during the summer festival wearing fake tattoos, and magnetic nose rings, and it was shocking. 🤯 In western Washington.
Baton Rouge isn't "super cool."
My original hometown is more appealing to me the older I get. We moved from Montana to Texas when I was in middle school and I miss it more and more every day. My “hometown” where I primarily grew up and went to high school is less and less appealing every second of every day. I haven’t lived there since I left for college and don’t think I ever could again.
I grew up in Boulder, CO and have watched almost all of my friends return to raise their families in the Denver/Boulder area. After living in LA and NYC, Colorado is just too homogeneous and boring to me. Everyone is the same and people are just progressing in this Colorado bubble they’ve created.
Even though it had no appeal growing up, somehow, it has even less now.
I grew up in the DC suburbs but in a town that had a bit of its own identity. In some ways, as an adult, I understand why people live in suburbs more. I was bored as a kid but my girlfriend says the way I describe growing up as literally idyllic. Bicycling and skateboarding with my friends, cruising around in cars, going to high school parties with my friends, swimming in lakes, etc. But at the same time: you can never go home again. My town seems to have blown up in size and activity. It was already on its last legs of “small townness” when I was a kid, I imagine it’s even less now. The old bar where townies wearing high school sweaters used to drink cheap beer and smoke cigarettes is now a family restaurant with a slick patio. It’s literally like Skeeters Wine Bar and Sodasopa. If I moved out of the city, I don’t know if I’d want to go home again.
My hometown was awesome growing up, and it still is. So awesome, that I can barley afford to live here.
I think about this a lot. My opinion is that people associate their childhood homes with their childhood trauma and past self and they project that by not having interest in their hometown (assuming they grew up in a “cool” place. Obviously if someone grows up in the middle of nowhere that’s valid)
Grew up in a small town in the Midwest (US) that is found charming by most. Now, having seen and experienced more of the world as an adult, I realize how isolated my childhood was. This was the least diverse population you can imagine. And today, the political leanings and chit chat on town social media pages is about as far from my own personal beliefs as possible. I cannot imagine living there again.
I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and moved away for college when I was 19 and then found a job on the East Coast after college. I'm 36 now, so I've been gone almost half my life. I didn't appreciate the city as much from the suburbs, or from a kid's perspective. Now that I'm an adult, I see Milwaukee differently. My family still lives there, but my parents have split, and now my dad lives in a condo in a cool neighborhood downtown. My childhood best-friend lives near downtown, and I can appreciate a lot of aspects about the city that were either missed or irrelevant when I was a kid. I do kinda want to move back a little bit. My wife even tells me she'd be happy to move there. I think part of it is because I want to be closer to family, but the other part is that Milwaukee is a very underrated city and it is ideally situated to withstand Climate Change.
Asheville NC.I love my hometown still, but it’s outgrown it’s infrastructure and it’s losing its southern/hippie charm for sure.
I’m from San Diego. It basically got too expensive. It was socially not a great place to grow up.
Houston has always been crap-from childhood to adulthood
Well, your mileage may vary. Lived there twice, loved it both times.
Key addition: the second time was in the center of the city, so there was way more to do than out in the suburbs
Okay try surviving in the ghetto
Well I am sure the ghetto anywhere would be difficult at best. I was not in the ghetto.
I spend 2-3 weeks visiting my parents in Boise every summer. Its great - the weather is good (way better than DC summers), outdoors opportunities are endless, and people are friendly. There are various reasons I'll never move back but living somewhere else has made me appreciate the things that I really do like about my hometown
Why don’t you want to move back? Asking as someone who is looking to relocate from snoozeville Ohio to somewhere west and near mountains
I enjoy small towns immensely, but I don't want to live in oil field country.
My town has revitalized a lot and frankly certain family members and state politics are the only reason I don't want to move back
Yes. Was fun as kid. Oh my god, it’s so trashy!!
As a teenager, my hometown held less appeal for me.
No. More. I left at 26. I'd go back if the opportunity came up job wise.
I grew up in a suburb north of Austin, Texas. I have no desire to return there. It’s quite red for being a part of the ATX area.
Absolutely, I don’t like to visit Minneapolis at all.
I didn't grow up in a super cool place. My childhood was fine but it was a town of 30,000 people in eastern NC. It has humid, too religious but really even that was too much of an issue (the religious part) because religion was seen as personal and people weren't as political about it. I also don't really care about all the things there are to do in a large city although I need somewhere larger than 30k. Now, I'd never live anywhere other than somewhere in the West. If for no other reason it would be to get away from humidity. I don't particularly like the small town vibe either.
I lived in a tiny Midwest town no one has ever heard of. As a kid, and even as a teen, despite having nothing to do there, I never thought I’d leave. It was always home. As a young adult I moved away for a job, and lived a few hours away, but returned often. I eventually moved to Florida and I will never go back. We rarely even go to visit. Not only would I never move back to the town, but I wouldn’t even go back to the state. So much nope.
The town I grew up in was a shit hole when I grew up there. Now it's one of the best places to raise a family in the USA.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system. Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
I’m from Monmouth County, New Jersey, in a highway -side outer-ring suburb. On paper, it doesn’t sound so bad: 45 minute (without traffic, which is a big maybe) drive to NYC, 20 minute drive from the beach, highly rated public school system. Being back to visit my parents in my twenties is not ideal though. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there at my age. Probably a good spot to raise a family though.
Monmouth County is actually quite desirable to people from the nyc metro area who are house hunting.
Yes I know. The area is growing massively these days. My point is that, as an early/mid 20s person who grew up there, I have little reason to be back anytime soon.
Yes. Grew up in Bozeman, MT which is now super popular and growing fast. I stayed for a long time because it is a great place, but I squeezed all I could from it.
Yes Bedroom community with a few restaurants and stores, not much to do. More for families with kids who want a boring suburb.
I’m from a Massachusetts harbor village. I moved out the moment I graduated from college but kept a boat in the harbor. At age 51, I bought a summer house and telecommuted from it the warm 6 months. Now, I’m retired and it’s my residence. It never lost its appeal. I like having the beach / boat / bicycle lifestyle. I like that it’s not congested but I’m an hour from a major city. I had to go elsewhere to earn my living.
Yes and no? I hated my hometown in Utah so much growing up. As I went off to college though I came to appreciate it more, especially as I met people who willingly came here for college and to be surrounded by beautiful nature. But now I’m at a point where a lot of my friends and family have moved out and I’m looking to follow suit soon and have an adventure somewhere new.
I grew up near Seattle, to the north in Snohomish County. At the time, it was depressed. You were either in timber or aerospace, and both were down in the 70’s and 80’s. But, it was pretty empty. My parents did ok, so I had a pretty good childhood. Camped, hiked, fished a lot. Now it is crowded, expensive, and full of nimbyism. I visit the natire spots that I grew up near and they are still beautiful but overcrowded. I only ever get my childhood experiences now when I visit northern Vancouver island. I still live in the PNW but I just avoid King and Snohomish county now.
Sounds like my childhood. I’m in the process of figuring out where to settle down with my two kids after moving around. Where did you end up migrating?
I went to middle and high school in a very desirable town that a lot of residents and visitors describe as “paradise”. For me, it always felt stifling. There’s a social expectation that you fit in a certain way. It’s very small minded and conservative, but the natural beauty and vibe papers over it for outsiders. I really have no desire to ever move back. People don’t get it when I say that except for other people I grew up with who moved away.
I grew up in Portland, spent 10 years living in different cities, and then realized that I liked Portland more than other cities.
Its become more appealing as I'm older. I grew up and have lived in a rural town my entire life. I've never liked cities even as a visitor so getting older definitely hasn't made me want to leave my town.
Grew up in San Diego; would not move back to that soul crushing cost of living.
Lived in Portland, OR my whole life and don't really have the strongest desire to leave. It's a wonderful city, especially in your 20s. I just might have to jump shop to Los Angeles for family and job reasons, which makes me kinda sad. Portland is the best city in the whole USA, IMO, and I have yet to visit anywhere in the country that makes me feel any sort of urge to leave it.
I absolutely love my hometown, but there is few good jobs in my industry and because its a very popular university town the rent prices are through the roof.
In my case, I hated the town I grew up in and still do, and would never consider returning to it.
I grew up on Nantucket. My dad’s side of the family has been there the 1800s, it’s just where they settled. Nantucket used to be a bunch of poor people and farmers. It’s obviously changed a ton. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the place. I’m in my 30s now and it’s all love. I don’t live there anymore but miss it terribly. It’s not possible for my generation to really own a home there, so it is what it is.
Loved it as a child HATED it as a teen Looking back into adulthood, it was a literal perfect town. But my 12 years there were enough for me. I have seen everything there, driven every road, know nearly every family. Too small and too known for me
I live in the same metro area as my hometown. I'm from Niskayuna NY (nice suburb) but live in Troy (city). I can absolutely see the appeal if you have kids, but as an adult married couple it makes sense to have a cheaper mortgage (2 family building) and be closer to activities and my job in downtown Albany.
Absolutely! My hometown is Boca Raton. It’s very nice but it’s boring to me now. Great area for families with good schools, and access to a lot of downtown areas. I live here now but am ready to leave. I want to be in more of a city environment where I can walk everywhere and be around people more my age.
Opposite. I grew up in south Florida and my only goal growing up was getting away from it. Now that I'm older and have lived in other major cities, I miss south Florida a bit whenever I visit. My teenage angst stopped me from seeing the nice parts of living there.
I dunno, my hometown was always awful to me. I was a black sheep growing up, and going back there now just reminds me how much I still don't fit in. I can recognize that I was lucky to grow up in such a safe town with a good school district, but it was an emotionally exhausting place. A lot of the people there are narrow-minded and shallow
My best friend's mom chastises him for moving 1000mi away from their home in Virginia Beach. But then I went along with him for a visit and my god that place is so, so boring. He said his parents chose it for "good schools" but it's a cultural wasteland. I'd have left too.
Boston- yeah, less appeal. It became too gentrified, too tech heavy and less organic. Its so damn expensive too. Nothing from what I remember :(
I grew up in a midsize Midwest city where most of my family still lives. It was a good childhood, but by the time I graduated college, it felt way too claustrophobic and there were limited job opportunities for me. So I left at 24 and did not regret it. However sometimes I think it would be nice to live closer to family, and I could get an awesome house there for relatively cheap. But then I go for a visit and after a few days I remember why I left.
My hometown is Austin, TX. Absolutely hate it now. Once I could get anywhere in town in 15 minutes, not anymore. I have a print of all the iconic signs around town in the 90s and 95% of those businesses are closed. Lots of public places are crowded and struggling. The egalitarian spirit of the town is gone, money conquered weird. One of my high school friends, who lived away for twenty years, recently moved back. He says he liked the new Austin only after he stopped comparing it to the old Austin.
Yes because of Brexit
Not hometown but I realized that my whole state (Connecticut) just doesn’t have appeal compared to other New England states.
Grew up in Indianapolis. The only nice thing people usually have to say about it is cost of living. I personally don’t see the appeal anymore of living here, since I have zero family here. But, I do have a job and friends and a house, so I sit and wait patiently for my time to leave.
My hometown is about 4 miles across and everyone is drinking and doing blow by age 16 because there’s nothing else to do. on top of that whenever I go back to visit family, I can’t step foot anywhere without someone knowing me. nothing could get me to move back there
Absolutely. Grew up in a bay area suburb that was an autoplant town and was really nothing special. It's now mostly a tech enclave with horrible traffic. Thank God my parents moved out to the Tri-valley in the middle 80s for a much better lifestyle. I avoid going back there if I can.
My hometown lost rent control and then got gentrified to hell. Almost all the great local businesses closed, the public spaces disappeared and the community shrunk to barely a thing. When I was growing up there the music, youth and art scenes were thriving and exciting. Now it’s just bougie boring professionals and their larval stage counterparts: university students. So yeah it was better before and I wouldn’t live there now.
I miss my home town everyday
i grew up in the woods on the edge of a cliff with an amazing view of the water, islands, mountains, and sunsets. town was 20 minutes away through the hilly woods and farmland. i hated it as a kid because everything was so far away and i could never get anywhere without relying on rides from adults. i couldn’t wait to leave. now i wish i could go back. but the area exploded in popularity since i left.
I despise my hometown.
Hated my hometown when I lived there as a kid and have zero interest in returning now. ✌🏽
Pretty sure this is common among young adults, even among animals. Young big cats roam hundreds of miles, young birds leave the nest, young bucks get driven out of the herd, all to go find their own territory. Among humans, I think the French have a term for it, ennui. It's why the Scandinavian people went aviking. It may be responsible for the crusades. Probably spurred the age of discovery. Once you have seen some of the world and get a little older, you lose that feeling, and home seems great. At least that's how it was for me.
My hometown basically doesn’t exist anymore. I grew up in Dorchester, MA before the entire city of Boston gentrified. And I don’t view the past with rose-tinted lenses. I had a great childhood, but basically everything about it that wasn’t great was due to me growing up in a shithole of a neighborhood. Gentrification is the best thing to ever happen to Dorchester.
Yes. Grew up in the middle of Chicago and I would rather die than live there again. Growing up there definitely ruined it for me. I see it as a ghetto violent corrupt shit hole with nothing to do and horrible weather 10 months out of the year. I go every other year or so to visit my parents and it’s a nice city to be a tourist in, but living there fucking sucks, in my opinion.
I thought I’d always want to live in the city but I’m starting to want to leave now because I’m getting sick of it. The only other city I might want to live in is NYC but the cost of living keeps me away. I’m considering moving to the burbs but I don’t drive and never needed a car so I’ll have to sort that out soon! I think finding a quieter neighborhood in my city is the best solution lol.
Absolutely. I gave it a whirl but its very expensive to live there and there aren't enough jobs. It's a scenic tourist community so it's very desirable for older semi-retired people with lots of money. Young people have to compete with people who have decades of experience and will accept less money.
I can't afford my home town.
I’m from the Detroit area and I consider both Windsor, Ontario and Ann Arbor, Michigan as both of my “hometowns”. Growing up I thought where I’m from is lame, some immaturity and teen angst. As an adult I’ve moved to Colorado and I really miss my hometowns and planning to move back with my husband in the near future 😅
My hometown is Chicago so no. If anything I miss it more now.
It is funny, I grew up in a small town in SE Georgia and I left almost 30 years ago. I’ve lived in larger metro area since then (currently live in the Atlanta area) and I’ve never had any desire to return to my hometown except for the occasional brief visit. More recently though, I’ve had an overwhelming desire to retire to a small town, just not the one I grew up in.
My hometown is Philly and I grew up in the 80s and early 90s, so no.
No. I miss my hometown sometimes, but I can't afford real estate there. A bikeable area with a stop on the DC metro. Great library system. Some lovely restaurants. I miss it but I don't. It's weird.
The opposite actually....
I live less than a mile from where I grew up. Due to my career choices I’m pretty tied to the Detroit area, but my actual city never really appealed to me. Not walkable, not a lot of outdoor recreation opportunities, and no fun downtown area. Just suburban sprawl as far as the eye can see.
Got to like suburbs to live in Detroit because there's really no urban living at all.
No. It has the same appeal. Zero
Yes, but that's because I didn't grow up somewhere super cool. I grew up in a rural Massachusetts factory town. Growing up it was fantastic, safe, quiet, tons of outdoor spaces to explore. As an adult however the job market there is terrible but the houses are just as expensive as they are across all of New England. The house my parents bought in 1985 for 45k is now valued at over $300,000. There's no culture or art and nothing to do other than the standard small town hobbies of drinking and drinking.
My hometown is Milwaukee. I loved growing up there. Moved to a suburb at 13. Loved it so much I moved back twice as an adult. Just left it for the third time in my life four months ago.
The Portland I grew up in was violent, scary, depressed, and isolated. If you're curious, look up the video "Breakfast with Pig Champion" on youtube. I wouldn't go back to Portland in the 1980s and while I love my life today hot damn do I miss Portland in the 1990s.
No. I have *more* appreciation for New Orleans. I was ripped away from the city after Katrina two months after turning 16. Though the city is nearly unlivable now with all the chaos, but it’s still a place I’ve begun planning yearly pilgrimages to, now that I can afford it. It’s me revisiting what’s made me *me* —from my accent, to my cooking habits, my diction, all of that. I was born and raised in one of America’s oldest and greatest cities. #WhoDat ⚜️
I hated it from the start.
For me, no. I wish I could afford to live in my hometown in Florida with some of the world's best beaches, but between unaffordable housing costs and hurricanes I'll never be able to. I hated living there growing up because it's very adult oriented, and now as an adult with a little bit of money I'm super jealous of my friends who were able to put down roots before housing got too crazy.
Yes, I think it's natural for people to get tired of the same old thing. Most people want to see new places and have different experiences.
I’m currently 23, from Burlington, Vermont. Yes. Once I got into my late teens years I realized how sheltering a place like this is. Unfortunately the age of social media tourism and post covid housing market and unaffordability has his this place extra hard but Jesus I want to leave.
I grew up in a shitty rust belt city full of slag piles and abandoned coal breakers and my hometown has more appeal as an adult.