S1 went to college 700 miles away, now lives 3000 miles away. S2 went to college 450 miles away, and is now 4900 miles away, in the other direction. S2’s hoped-for career path would bring him back here or keep him overseas. S1 may drift back to the East Coast, but I don’t expect he’ll come back to our immediate area.
My dad was in the military and we always lived far from relatives. When we were stationed in Germany, my parents called their parents once a year. A dollar a minute for long distance was a LOT of money in 1970. I’m 600 miles from any of my family. Happily, technology has improved to make communications cheap and easy.
D1 stayed local for college and med school. Relocated 2000 miles away for residency. She intended to return and practice medicine at a hospital about 90 minutes away from where she grew up (she has a standing job offer), but she married a man who lives/works in another country and will be moving half way around the world once she finishes residency.
D2 went to college 2000 miles away, live & worked for 2 years post graduation 1500 miles away, then returned home for med school. (Low instate tuition + scholarship = no med school debt). She’ll be moving to another western state for residency and will need to move again for fellowship, where exactly TBD. She would like to return and practice academic medicine here once she’s finished training, but it all depends on the job market 7 years from now.
So, both Ds have what you can call “portable” careers–i.e. they can work anywhere–and both would like to come back & live near home, but life has taken them in other directions.
We left the city we met/married and raised our son- never expected him to return to it. He shored up his skills close to college and left for the PNW. We came to Florida, need sunshine. 3000 miles means infrequent trips for either of us. Nephew went to college in PNW, stayed while his sister went to college in the east, landed in MN. Brother’s kids were in various branches of the service after HS and all ended up in their hometown. I suspect when we are elderly (already old) we may end up in the city son is at the time. By then he likely will have settled down and being close will be more convenient.
Wisconsin was a great place to grow up and raise a family, excellent public education K-college back then. But, can see moving on. Likewise I see where my parents, grandparents, etc moved from where they were from. Likewise H and his side of the family. Some families develop strong roots and have many nearby relatives. Not us.
That’s no surprise. Most skilled employers are small to midsize companies and it’s more cost effective to hire locally and regionally. Also, certain job markets are more competitive than others. Applying for a job back home is a disadvantage because it costs more to fly candidates down and potentially relocate them when there are candidates locally available. It’s often better just to take the job offer in the region.
As someone posted, I often depends on the major. For my major (ME), I had to relocate to where the jobs are. My wife (CPA) could find work anywhere but also had to relocate to NE when she want to work for the Big 6 at the time. My daughter has such a narrow focus that she will be limited to areas with a mafor university presence. My sister’s kids all live within 30 miles. So it is vary common to go either way.