Americans Eye Canada and Beyond: Post-Election Interest in Moving Abroad Surges

By Samanda Dorger

Just after the 2024 presidential election, American interest in moving abroad spiked. Some immigration services have seen increased website traffic and visa inquiries, according to CNN.

Roughly 5.5 million Americans live abroad, according to an estimate by the Association of American Residents Overseas.

An analysis of the most sought-after countries for relocation based on global search volumes found that Canada is the most desired relocation destination for U.S. residents, with a search volume of 54.13 per 10 million, more than four times that of the second-placed country. Researchers at My Baggage, which ships luggage, boxes and sports equipment for people moving abroad, used data from Google and the World Bank using terms like “Move to [country],” to see which countries Americans were considering most.

The 10 most searched countries:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. Ireland
4. New Zealand
5. Portugal
6. Switzerland
7. Costa Rica
8. Spain
9. Japan
10. Mexico and Norway (tie)

As for actual relocations, internal data from My Baggage found the biggest increase of U.S. citizens relocating to Australia over the past 18 months, followed by France, Spain, Ireland and the U.K.