Americans ditched big cities during the pandemic. Now many are regretting it – By Kelli María Korducki (Insider) / Nov 27, 2023
Susan, a 30-something artist, lived in New York City when the pandemic struck. Eager to flee the claustrophobia of a too-small apartment, she and her husband decamped upstate to stay with friends in an up-and-coming town in the Catskills (population: 1,000) where they could hike local trails and fish for trout.
Susan, who asked that her real name not be used to avoid social repercussions, had lived in New York City for over a decade, but her husband had grown tired of the hustle and bustle of the city. The pair had talked about moving to a smaller town someday — the pandemic just shortened their timeline. Thanks to the influx of city folk desperate for personal space, rents in trendy upstate communities had become exorbitant overnight, so it made more financial sense to simply buy.
The couple put in an offer on a home near their friends in April 2020 and moved in by summer’s end. But once they had settled in, the reality of the situation hit Susan. Cut off from her social and creative communities, she felt unmoored and alienated. Maybe she wasn’t the sort of person who enjoyed trout fishing. Maybe the house in the country wasn’t right for her, after all — or at least, not yet.
“I liked the idea in theory, but I wasn’t ready for it,” Susan told me.
