• From 2020 to 2021, 85% of homebuyers ages 31 to 40 bought either in a suburb or small town.
  • Many of these movers left big cities for less costly homes, but found it wasn't worth the tradeoff.
  • Have you moved out of a city and regret it? Business Insider wants to hear from you.

Lauren Savoie, 34, traded Boston for Manhattan, Kansas, a college town with a population of less than 55,000, in 2022.

Savoie and her husband, who's enrolled in the local college, get more bang for their buck, spending the same $1,700 in rent they paid in Boston for an extra bedroom and better appliances in Kansas. But the peaceful respite they were hoping for turned out to be, well, boring.

"Being here has taught me what I value in a place," Savoie previously told Business Insider. "Kansas has a lot of green spaces. It's quiet. The people are incredibly friendly and kind. But I really value a feeling of culture, great food, and a faster pace of life." After her husband graduates, the couple are ditching the country for a city once more.

Savoie isn't alone: Many people who seized on the opportunity offered by remote work to leave behind the costly rents and lifestyles of cities in exchange for cheaper real estate and a more bucolic life elsewhere are now rethinking their decisions. Many regret leaving behind the social and professional groups they cultivated and feel removed from their hobbies.

Take Zachary Thacher, who fled New York City in 2020 to take up organic farming at his friend's farm. Thatcher, who told the New York Post he thought he'd never come back to the city, lasted only four-and-a-half months.

"I missed the diversity and my Jewish community," he said.

Millennials, particularly, regret leaving big cities. Millennials left cities like Los Angeles and Chicago at a faster clip than Gen X and Boomers in 2021, according to US Census data analyzed by home-improvement site Today's Homeowner. On top of that, from 2020 to 2021, 85% of homebuyers between the ages of 31 and 40 — squarely within the millennial age range of 25 to 44 — purchased homes in the suburbs or a rural area, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

The cheaper housing many sought out by leaving cities just wasn't worth the tradeoff. Alex Gatien, 38, left Toronto, Canada, in May 2021 for a quiet town 270 miles east. He and his partner purchased a four-bedroom Victorian home with a large yard for less than the cost of a studio in Toronto.

He appreciates the lower cost of living, but laments what he gave up in the move.

"People live in a much more private realm," Gatien previously told Business Insider. "Everyone drives everywhere, which means you don't really run into people. They don't really use public spaces like parks unless they don't have their own outdoor space, which everyone does unless they're poor."

Have you moved out of a city and regret it? We want to hear from you. Reach out to reporter Jordan Pandy, at jpandy@businessinsider.com, with your story.