What % of British people stay living in the town they grew up in, and how many move away do you reckon?

Posted by okmijnedc@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 10 comments

Or cmat least the same part of the country? Most people I know moved away but that's probably because I live in London, so most are peoole who came her after uni etc. But looking at my school's page on FB, even though most went to university many just went home and stayed there.

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Careless_Wasabi_8943@reddit

I grew up in Sutton Coldfield, left at age 19 to go to Uni and apart from two short spells never lived there again. I visit my octogenarian parents about once a month but after they are gone I intend my last visit to be to oversee the sale of their bungalow. Dull, unpleasant town. Wealthy, but it's all finance capital, there's no art to the place at all

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DylanClegg23@reddit

Last time I checked Facebook before deleting it seems like it was a good third of my class stayed in my hometown and are all still friends, which I find mind boggling as I grew up in a smallish commuter town with nothing to do and found everyone very basic and bland. Spent most of my 20s and 30s moving around before finding somewhere that was more “me”.

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Neat-Candle1377@reddit

Replying to your comment as it has a lot of likes, I think with a daughter who‘s thirteen for five months. being born in punjab and moving here as a baby and growing up here, there’s not many people in london that use social media and for her it’s very overwhelming because if you know this generation you‘re born here and you just want to stay because it’s relaxing you want to stay if you don’t get bored easily and there’s a lot to do. If you’re not then in her opinion it’s very hard to get use to it without just being here for a week. Many people live in different parts of the world so it’s nice to be central where you get people from everywhere and now and then you can go for holidays if you want. Hearing stories from differing parts whether that’s a different part outside of london can be nice and overwhelming but it’s nice to know there’s a lot to do IF you want . Nice stories. Have a good day lol.

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okmijnedc@reddit (OP)

That's it I went to an aspirational high achieving school. And these people apparently got out of university at 22 in the privileged position of being able to choose a life, and decided to go back to the town they grew up in...

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yoofpingpongtable@reddit

>in the privileged position of being able to choose a life, and decided to go back to the town they grew up in Yes, so that's the life they're choosing. I don't see the issue. In many cases not moving out of your hometown *is* the privileged position. You get to stay close to your friends and family. Most migrants worldwide move *because of* economic reasons, i.e. the unprivileged position. British Reddit has pretty snobby opinions on people who don't move out of their hometown, it's weird.

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Electronic-Goal-8141@reddit

Economic reasons are usually the primary driver , my dad left Ireland in the 50s , they reckon statistically that 4 out 5 or 80% of Irish born in the 1930s left.

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Mysterious_Finger76@reddit

A lot of towns declined, most people that I know left for university the town and there's often alot of drug use and poverty. I remember there was a local drug raid, the local police don't get any funding and it's hard for the police in the town to get more funding from the state. I have moved now to a city, I am never going back to my home town, I did go back on Saturday the place is the same old people drug use and no infrastructure investment. There are reasons why NE has the highest unemployment rate in the uk, NE Is also the poorest region with most of the people being old.

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yoofpingpongtable@reddit

It's interesting to note the pretty undisguised snobbery in this thread towards people who choose to continue living in their hometowns, yet when AskUK threads are on the topic of "What's the worst thing about living in the UK", subtle snobbery is often one of the most upvoted answers. Almost as if people don't care about it when they're the ones doing it, or when it's a Reddit-approved type of snobbery.

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cmrndzpm@reddit

Exactly. People who don’t leave their hometowns are often stereotyped as having dead-end jobs and marrying someone they knew from school — but they always seem to be a lot happier and more well off than most of their peers of the same age who pay £1500+ for a bedsit, in the dodgy end of a city centre 300 miles away. I did leave my hometown (eventually) but I don’t judge a single person who stayed.

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Electronic-Goal-8141@reddit

https://www.theonion.com/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still-liv-1819575312