Before I get into my long TLDR part: My piece of advice is to really think about what type of family, social, professional life you would have once you return. Shoot, if you have the chance, I’d even say stay in your hometown for 1-2 weeks and then see how you feel. Moving back to your hometown is very different to visiting for a few days.

The TLDR part about my personal experience:

I moved back home (primarily bc of my father’s declining health), and to be honest I felt like a stranger. A small tid bit about my situation: I left home for college in 1999, then I moved to a big metropolitan city for grad school and stayed in that city until 2023.

Also, I realized that my family was not as close as I thought we were (or as I remembered) - same for my friendships from high school. It was funny bc folks were so excited for me to return home, but I was rarely invited to things. Also, I thiiink there might have been some resentment from some family members and friends bc I “managed” to leave, live in two a metropolitan cities for 24 years, traveled the world, etc. In my teens, I realized that if I didn’t leave my state for college, then I probably would never leave.

After a year back in my hometown, I ended up moving to another state. Why? The main reason: it was nearly impossible to find a job. One day while meeting with a friend and complaining about my job situation. My friend was like: I’m gonna keep it real, you probably will not find a decent job here because your resume is too good, you’re Black, and gay. After reviewing your resume, I can say that you have more significant professional experiences and educational credentials than the folks who would be your boss. I mean, your PhD program has strong name recognition, your post-doctoral training was at an Ivy, AND you directed a program at another Ivy. A future boss with an MS as a terminal degree from a random local university here will think that you’ll surpass them. Or, these employers will think you will want a salary that is too high for the area.

I was REALLY lucky that my previous job allowed me to work part-time and virtually from my hometown to train my replacement. Also, my part-time salary was decent enough to live in my hometown.

My friend was right. After applying for a position, someone from the hiring committee followed up with me because the search committee needed more information. I was thinking they wanted more info about my professional experiences. NOPE! The information they wanted - an explanation of why I left Big City X to move to smallest-medium City Y (my hometown). That was the last straw. Actually, maybe the last straw was a company offering me $42K per year. Not to be a d*ck, but I think that I’m, with a PhD in a scientific field and 10+ yrs experience in Industry X, was worth more than $42K/year.

Once I expanded my job search to Big City Z (about 4hrs driving from my hometown), the number of callbacks and interviews significantly increased. After a year after returning to my hometown, I’m living in the burbs of Big City Z.

The other reason I didn’t mind leaving my hometown…again. I figured if my husband and I were going to be lonely and without a decent social circle in my hometown, why not be lonely & without a decent social circle in a bigger city - at least we would have more culturally and social things to do in Big City Z.

So if I were to go back in time, I probably would not have moved to my hometown. Instead, I would have just moved to a metro city that’s within driving distance (1-5 hrs) to my hometown. That way, if I need to return home for anything (death, celebration, holidays, random crap), I can hop in the car (rather than flying) and be there in a few hours and leave whenever the hell I want. 😂