- Published
When Brianna Beyrouti looks back on her former life in the city of Portland, Oregon, she says she had been financially "drowning".
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she → publish → Portland
I was absolutely living paycheque to paycheque.
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I → live → paycheque
Every time the smallest thing came up, it was like 'Oh, gosh, the kids need shoes, how am I going to afford that?'
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I → come → that
As a single parent, everything falls on my shoulders."
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everything → fall → shoulders
Last year, Brianna left Portland and its metropolitan population of 2.5 million people.
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Brianna → leave → people
She and her two children moved 2,000 miles east to Muncie, Indiana, a small city with 65,000 people, a university and lots of open space, taking advantage of a scheme that contributed $5,000 towards the cost of the move to boost population growth.
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that → move → growth
She continues to work remotely for the same bank, so her annual salary of $107,000 (£79,000) is unchanged, but she has been able to buy a home for the first time.
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she → continue → time
And her mortgage is less than she used to have to pay in rent.
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she → use → rent
In Portland she was paying rent of $1,290 a month for an apartment, while the combined cost of her mortgage, home insurance and property tax for her detached home in Muncie is $1,100.
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cost → pay → Muncie
Add the fact that state income tax is lower in Indiana, and that her car insurance and energy bills have also fallen, and Brianna says she is $600 a month better off.
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she → add → Indiana
"I'm able to live my life more than I was before," she says.
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she → live → life
"When my kids want something, I'm much more inclined to say yes.
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I → want → something
My quality of life has increased dramatically."
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quality → increase → life
Brianna is not alone in swapping a big city for a smaller one.
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Brianna → swap → one
As the high cost of living continues to bite in the US, many of the biggest cities are seeing their populations fall, as people leave in search of cheaper property.
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people → continue → property
A 2025 report from the National Association of Realtors found that for people moving to a different state, affordability was their primary reason.,
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affordability → find → state
As a result, big cities from the likes of New York and Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon have seen a dip in their populations, external in recent years, further fuelled by the greatly increased acceptance of remote working since the Covid-19 pandemic.
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cities → see → pandemic
By contrast, some small towns and cities across the US, such as Muncie, are seeing their populations rise after decades of decline.
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populations → see → decline
The number of people who live in Muncie hit 65,466 last year, official figures showed.
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figures → live → 65,466
Free cinema tickets and wine
To help it stand out from the crowd, and encourage remote workers to move there from outside Indiana, Muncie's local council offers them $5,000 in cash to cover their relocation costs.
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council → help → costs
It does this via a website called MakeMyMove, which lists several such relocation support schemes offered by similar small cities and towns across the US.
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which → do → US
These pay MakeMyMove a subscription fee.
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These → pay → fee
Other incentives locations offer potential new residents are complementary cinema tickets, restaurant vouchers, and even free bottles of wine.
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locations → offer → wine
Brianna and her children are one of around 100 families to have moved to Muncie through the MakeMyMove programme.
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Brianna → move → programme
She says she hadn't heard of the city before.
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she → say → city
Across the US, MakeMyMove says it helped 1,000 people in total relocate last year, and is on target to increase that to 1,500 in 2026.
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people → say → 2026
Scientist Elena Chrysostomou also used a relocation support scheme to swap a big city for a small town.
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Chrysostomou → use → town
In 2024 she relocated from San Diego, California, to Jacksonville, a town of 17,700 people in rural Illinois.
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she → relocate → Illinois
The move was backed by the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC), which gave her $5,000 in cash, plus a "quality of life package" worth $4,000 that includes free gym memberships and golf passes.
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that → back → memberships
The JREDC says that while the region is "already a great place to live", the support scheme helps to "sweeten the deal".
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scheme → say → deal
Elena was spending $3,000 renting a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego, but she now owns a three-bedroom home, with a mortgage of $1,868.
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she → spend → 1,868
At the same time, her salary has gone up 22% after she changed jobs, and her commute has gone down from a 15-minute drive to one of just one minute.
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commute → go → minute
"I never thought that I'd be able to afford a house on my own, I always thought I'd need a partner, and even then, in San Diego, it would be so tough," she says.
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she → think → Diego
While both she and Brianna have no regrets, they do admit to some drawbacks to their new lives.
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they → have → lives
These include the narrower range of activities and restaurant choices, leaving behind friends and family, and for Brianna the difficulty of settling her children into new schools.
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These → include → schools
And while in Portland Brianna enjoyed walking to parks and shops, she now relies on her car to get anywhere.
But overall she says she is thrilled.
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she → enjoy → car
I have the biggest savings I've ever had in my life, and I'm a homeowner, and I can do things with my kids – we actually went on vacation for the first time in my youngest's life.
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we → have → life
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Have you moved for a better life?
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you → move → life
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