Antonio Zavarce talks to Luck from his home in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was packing for a 20-hour drive to Toronto, Canada, to see his husband.
Real estate investor Taylor Stevens and his partner were heading north for a simple knee injection. US doctors had recommended Stevens, 35, get a total joint replacement or take anti-inflammatory drugs on a regular basis after a car accident. To get the more comfortable injection, the couple would have to cross the border once a year.
They hope to take more drastic action soon.
They were tired of America and wanted a new life five and a half thousand miles away — in Italy.
This couple are just two of many individuals Luck spoke to people who cited polarized US politics as a major factor in their decision to leave the US.
The US State Department said Luck There are no figures on how many Americans have moved to other countries.
But with the upcoming presidential election, the number of households looking to leave is likely to increase: Relocation experts say Luck Their phones have been ringing off the hook since the Trump-Biden debate.
Their destinations were varied, but their sentiments were often similar: Politics in the United States were toxic. There had been an assassination attempt on a former president. Rioters had stormed the Capitol to try to overturn an election. These were events that Americans associated with unstable, developing nations far from North America.
America is starting to feel strange to them. So they are looking for homes elsewhere.
‘People tried to run us off the road for driving electric cars’
Real estate entrepreneurs Stevens and Zavarce knew where they were moving, but weren’t sure when.
The couple will be looking to settle in the northern Italian city of Vicenza—about an hour’s drive from Verona. With Stevens having lived in the area for more than a decade and Zavarce being of Italian descent, the move will reunite them with “lifelong” friends.
“I just felt at home,” Zavarce recalled of his first visit to Italy. “People looked like me, people had the same name, people spoke like me, people dressed like me. My ‘otherness’ was never pointed out, and here I would always be that ‘otherness.’”
In Louisiana, Zavarce and Stevens said they don’t feel safe because of the hostility toward people who might be liberals.
Several drivers tried to push their Rivian R1S off the road because it was an electric vehicle, they said.
In the most recent incident, a truck pulled up behind Zavarce from about a quarter mile away, moved into the inside lane, and began swerving toward the Rivian in an attempt to steer it toward the guardrail. Zavarce was driving on a bridge over a lake at the time.
The truck then pulled up in front of Zavarce and braked hard, forcing the shaken tram driver to do the same.
Zavarce believes that driving electric vehicles is increasingly seen as a political statement as the Biden administration pushes renewable energy. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been highly critical of the sector, describing the push as a Electric cars are “crazy”.
“All of that has made people look at electric vehicle drivers with a very… angry look,” Zavarce said.
They were also tired of living in fear of homophobic harassment. They bought vacant lots on either side of their home to create a security bubble around it.
“Italian society is like that… you can be and do whatever you want, as long as you do it yourself and don’t impose it on anyone else. They don’t blink twice when I say, ‘This is my husband,’” Zavarce said.
Financial security is another factor.
The couple, who run real estate company Hello House, sold four properties in the US to start investing in their Italian portfolio.
Their plan was to build a real estate portfolio designed to appeal to families visiting the nearby military base in Caserma Ederle: clients with a need for home comforts and English-speaking real estate agents.
He submitted a business plan to the Italian Chamber of Commerce to set up the company before moving.
The relocation could take place around 2026 to 2027.
Security concerns in the election
Assassination attempts and a White House riot prompted UC Berkeley student Benjamin Fields to book a flight to Cameroon six weeks before the election.
Fields will stay in the African country for a total of three months during the election, as he fears for his safety due to political unrest.
The 26-year-old girl recounted Luck He “never really believed” he would be in danger in the US but added: “After an assassination happens… and you see how much division happens, it’s like: ‘What risk am I taking by staying in the country at that time?’
“I have a feeling people are going to get violent because many people feel this is a permanent turning point for the United States.”
The Oklahoma-born student, who went to college at New York University, describes himself as “politically neutral” and believes living standards will get worse under any party.
That’s why Fields—who has two years left to complete his PhD—plans to stay in the United States to build up some cash reserves but will buy land to build a house on his trip to Cameroon in November.
“You can say it’s one administration or another, but… if you look at the share of wealth held by the top 1% or 10% over time, regardless of administration, it’s still trending the same way,” Fields said. “Home prices may fluctuate more… but they’re still going up. It’s like two ends of the same snake—[the parties] They may be socially antagonistic but both sides are driven by money.”
The data backs up Fields’ sentiment to some extent. The share of the nation’s net worth held by the top 99 and 100 percent has risen from 23 percent in 1989 to 30.4 percent in 2024, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.
Field plans to work in the United States for about a decade and then split his time between Cameroon, the United States and Europe — where his girlfriend lives.
While he may feel nostalgic about being away from America, he doesn’t believe the country’s polarization will lessen: “Based on what I see right now, it would take some sort of Black Swan event to change that in the near future — and I mean decades.”
‘People are looking for a candidate they see themselves in’
For the past seven years, Rachel Gallagher—who grew up near Seattle—has lived in the Spanish city of Seville and watched the news back home in amazement.
The 27-year-old, who works for Ukrainian software development company Aimprosoft, plans to stay in Europe for at least a few more years until she gets residency in Spain. Other than family and friends, there is no incentive for her to return home.
“If one day we suddenly had a stable political system that represented my values—and access to basic human rights for women wasn’t a debate every four years—that would be a huge boost too,” she said. Luck.
Gallagher added that in addition to a better social life, her career prospects in Spain were also better. A former teacher, Gallagher explained: “I really thought I wouldn’t have this career opportunity in the United States. Technology is so saturated now that it’s hard to break through, so I think if I hadn’t moved abroad and hadn’t connected with Aimprosoft, it would have taken me years longer to break through into the tech world. As for a career opportunity, it seems [U.S.] will also be a place worth visiting.”
However, as a long-term expat, Gallagher advises Americans looking to move abroad to respect the economy they’re moving to: “Think about local prices, local housing, and what kind of impact [you’ll] obtained by carrying a US budget.
“Anyone planning to move abroad should research house prices before making the move and not pay more just because they can afford it, [in order] to avoid pushing up prices for local people.”
