What would it take for you to uproot your entire family to a new state? (US)
What would it take to move your entire family?
My parents just told us they’d follow if we wanted to raise our kids elsewhere…I should be happy but it makes me want to cry now
Background:
Husband and I(30s) moved back to my home state 5 years ago to be closer to family once we had kids. My parents have lived in the same house for the past 30+ years since I was born - a beautiful house on an acre of land that we absolutely love spending time at. Room for the dogs to run, kids to have a playhouse, run in the yard, no HOA so parents get to keep their camping trailer in their yard, 20 minutes to anything or downtown, fully paid off etc. It’s perfect.
We ourselves just bought what we thought would be our forever home, and are currently expecting our second child. Quite culdesac, good school district, only 15 minutes away from grandparents house for the kids, large yard, enough bedrooms for our growing family…
The only problem is we don’t love the state overall. Politically or its rank in education overall.
Today my parents told us that if we wanted to move to raise our children elsewhere, that they would follow and move wherever we went.
Im incredibly grateful they’d offer such a thing, but on the other hand I can’t help but feel anxious and sad. Right now everything is perfect here and we’re comfortable. The state may not be great, but the pocket we’re in is nice and the school district is good. How am I supposed to gamble all of that to move to a different state and hope we pick the right place? With two kids in tow I can’t just bounce around apartments to get a feel for a place like I did in my 20s. I feel so much pressure to pick the right city, and neighborhood, if we move again. Trying to check all the boxes that we have here would be impossible, especially for my parents.
Before we were married my husband and I lived in the PNW and we absolutely loved it. My husband has always wanted to move back, but I was firm on wanting to be close to family for the kids. We have a solid large friend group up there with kids the exact same age as ours. That’s obviously a huge pull factor. However, the PNW is expensive and we’d both be taking a pay cut, and have to significantly downsize our houses to even consider it. Is that even worth it?
I don’t even know what to think anymore
Change is hard and I don’t want to stifle my children’s future because I’m afraid, but I also don’t want to gamble their quality of life from known to unknown by moving.
Posted Jul 5, 2026, 12:36 PM UTC