How TikTok is driving American expats to Southeast Asia

Chad Dunn used to spend his days on the ground of a Hyundai plant in Savannah, Ga., watching the clock, feeling the strain, and questioning how lengthy he might preserve going.

“Life in America was pretty unfulfilling and pretty stressed out,” he stated. “Like most folks, just in a rat race.”

Now, he lives in Da Nang, a coastal metropolis in Vietnam, and makes a residing serving to different People go away.

“I can pick you up from the airport, set you up with a phone, a bank account, and get you settled in an apartment in under a week,” he stated. “It’s becoming very popular.”

Dunn runs a relocation enterprise constructed round a easy concept: that the life he present in Vietnam is one thing others need too. A lot of his shoppers first discover him on TikTok, watching his movies about every day life overseas. And more and more, they attain out asking how they’ll transfer to Vietnam, too.

World expat surveys have ranked Vietnam and Thailand among the many most engaging locations for affordability and high quality of life.

Estimates from the Affiliation of People Resident Abroad, based mostly on United Nations knowledge, present the variety of People residing in Southeast Asia has grown considerably over the previous few a long time, rising from about 32,000 in 1990 to just about 88,000 in 2024. (That knowledge doesn’t embrace Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, so the true variety of People within the area is probably going far larger.)

And for the primary time in a long time, the U.S. could possibly be experiencing unfavorable web migration — extra individuals leaving than getting into. A examine revealed this yr by the Brookings Establishment estimates web migration turned unfavorable in 2025, the primary time in a minimum of half a century.

Individuals born within the U.S. who select to maneuver overseas nonetheless make up a small portion of these numbers, however influencers on social media are serving to deliver wider visibility to the shift.

Brooke Erin Duffy, an affiliate professor of communication at Cornell College, says the shift has been constructing over time, notably as extra persons are in a position to work remotely.

“I think it is part of a broader trend … and in particular the rise of digital nomadism,” she stated. “More and more people are working remotely … and trying to find ways to integrate work into their lifestyle,” moderately than the opposite means round.

Duffy says social media helps speed up that shift. “We have this culture of … aspirationalism and relatability,” she stated, pointing to creators who showcase distant work in opposition to “gorgeous backdrops.”

However she cautions that what individuals see on-line might be deceptive. “The images that circulate about life and work are filtered through a glossy prism,” she stated, noting the hole between curated content material and the realities of residing overseas.

Expats hype Vietnam for its affordability

Mia Moore, a holistic nutritionist, lives simply minutes from the seashore in Da Nang. She’s 37, from Northern California, and moved to Vietnam earlier this yr after years of touring via Southeast Asia. For her, the choice wasn’t sudden; it constructed over time.

“It was a slow realization that I wanted something different,” she stated.

Again house in California, she had what many would think about a very good life — a profession, a routine, entry to nature. However she says a lot of her time was consumed by one factor.

“Every day was about how I am going to make more money and keep up this quality of life,” she stated.

In Vietnam, that strain eased.

“I pay about a fifth of what I was paying for rent,” she stated. “Utilities are basically nonexistent. I can go out to eat if I want to.”

A bowl of pho close to her residence prices about $2; even with extras, round $4.

“People say it’s cheap, but that makes it sound low quality,” she stated. “It’s actually a really high quality of life. It’s just less expensive.”

Hundreds of miles away, viewers are watching lives like these unfold in actual time. On TikTok, People residing in locations like Vietnam and Thailand stream their days from beachfront cafés, metropolis flats, and late-night walks via streets that really feel each unfamiliar and oddly calm.

The movies are easy, however the message is evident: Life in Southeast Asia appears simpler.

In Thailand, social media influencers say stress ranges are down

For Chris Michaels, the pull had nothing to do with cash. He spent his profession within the toy trade, working in a company function in Chicago. It was about stepping away from a life that felt relentlessly worrying.

“I’d get up, go to work, go to the gym, go to sleep — rinse and repeat,” stated Michaels. “There was just nothing new, nothing exciting.”

The turning level got here on a visit to Bangkok, escaping winter in Chicago for heat nights and a skyline view from a rooftop pool.

“I’m looking out over the city thinking, how do I live here full time?” he stated.

He figured it out. Michaels retired early at 46 and has now spent greater than seven years in Thailand. And like Dunn and Moore, TikTok has develop into a part of his every day life. He posts movies and hosts livestreams a number of nights every week.

“The No. 1 question I get now is ‘Help me leave the United States and move to Thailand,'” he stated.

For a lot of People, the attraction begins with price.

In locations like Da Nang and Bangkok, hire, meals and transportation can price a fraction of what they do in main U.S. cities, particularly for individuals incomes or saving in U.S. {dollars}.

That distinction reshapes every day life.

Moore says she not constructions her days round monetary strain.

“My focus now is how I want my day to look,” she stated. “How I feel. What I want to do.”

Dunn describes one thing related — a life with fewer constraints and extra connection.

“There’s a sense of community here,” he stated. “People gather, they talk, they spend time together. It’s not the same kind of stress.”

TikTok does not inform the entire story

Behind the movies and the approach to life, there are limits.

Many expats say their way of life is made attainable by incomes or saving in U.S. {dollars} whereas spending in native currencies — a bonus that does not translate to most Vietnamese or Thai residents.

Making a residing domestically might be tough. In Vietnam, foreigners are sometimes restricted to a slim set of jobs, mostly instructing English, the place pay is commonly considerably decrease than what they may earn within the U.S. Because of this, many depend on distant work, financial savings, or U.S.-based revenue streams — a dynamic that enables them to profit from decrease prices with out taking part totally within the native labor market.

Some level to decrease well being care prices. Moore says she just lately paid about 200,000 Vietnamese dong — roughly $8 — for a dental cleansing, X-rays and a checkup. However entry and high quality can differ, particularly exterior main cities.

Lengthy-term wants like faculties, visas and secure residency might be extra difficult for foreigners.

Many People in Vietnam live on vacationer visas which might be sometimes legitimate for as much as 90 days. Which means leaving the nation usually and returning — a course of generally known as a visa run. “You can take a bus to the border, walk across, get stamped, and come back,” says Moore.

In Thailand, visa choices can differ, however long-term residency can nonetheless be difficult.

Even after years there, Michaels stated he is conscious of the place he stands. “I’m a guest in this country,” he stated. “I will always be a foreigner.”

There are different trade-offs, too: distance from household, time zone variations, and the problem of rebuilding a life from scratch.

When Michaels first moved, the adjustment wasn’t simple.

“I’d wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning thinking, what did I do?” he stated. “It took months to feel settled.”

And the promise of a lower-stress life does not come mechanically.

“A lot of people move here and bring their stress with them,” Michaels stated. “You have to let go of that.”

It is a quieter a part of the story, one that does not all the time present up in a TikTok livestream.

From curiosity to dedication

For Dunn, the shift has been simple.

“When I first told people I was moving, they said I was crazy,” he stated. “Now they’re calling me asking how to come.”

Michaels sees the identical factor.

“It’s such a reversal,” he stated. “People used to ask why I would leave. Now they’re asking how.”

For the People already there, the choice typically feels everlasting.

“There’s no going back,” Dunn stated. “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.”