‘Donald Dash’: Report shows Americans leaving US in record numbers

Washington: In its 250th year, the United States is witnessing a rare reversal. More Americans moved out than moved in last year, a shift not seen since the Great Depression, a major financial daily has reported.

The US experienced net negative migration in 2025, with an estimated loss of about 150,000 people, according to calculations by the Brookings Institution. The outflow is expected to increase in 2026. Total in-migration fell to between 2.6 and 2.7 million in 2025, down from nearly 6 million in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of 15 countries with partial or full 2025 data found that at least 180,000 Americans moved to them. The number is likely higher once complete figures are reported.

There is no single dataset that fully captures the estimated 4 to 9 million Americans already living abroad. The State Department estimated 1.6 million lived in Mexico in 2022. Canada hosts more than 250,000. The United Kingdom has more than 325,000 Americans living in the country, part of over 1.5 million Americans now living in Europe, it said.

In Portugal, the number of American residents has jumped more than 500 per cent since the COVID pandemic. It rose 36 per cent in 2024 alone. Ireland welcomed 10,000 Americans in 2025, about double the previous year. More Americans moved to Germany last year than Germans moved to the United States, the daily said.

Relocation firms say demand is surging. On a recent conference call hosted by Expatsi, nearly 400 Americans signed up to learn how to move to Albania.

“Previously, the Americans leaving were super-adventurous and well-credentialed,” Expatsi founder Jen Barnett was quoted as saying. “Now they’re ordinary people, like me.” She said the company’s goal is “to move one million Americans.”

Some commentators have labelled the trend the “Donald Dash”, as numbers spiked during President Donald Trump’s second term. But the movement has been building for years. Remote work, rising living costs, and lifestyle preferences are key drivers.

A White House spokesman said the US economy is outperforming other developed nations and that the administration is deporting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants while attracting “countless ultra-high net worth foreigners,” some paying “$1 million for a Gold Card to come settle in the United States.”

The Department of Homeland Security reported 675,000 deportations and 2.2 million “self-deportations” last year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, renunciation requests are also rising. The US government has a month-long backlog of Americans seeking to give up citizenship, either to secure a foreign passport or to avoid taxation on overseas earnings. Requests jumped 48 per cent in 2024 and likely rose further in 2025, immigration firms say.

Relocation companies say today’s migrants include families and mid-career professionals. “You don’t face the prospect of your 5-year-old going into a kindergarten and doing an active shooter drill,” said Chris Ford, who moved to Berlin. “The wages are higher in the US, but the quality of life is higher in Europe.”

In Spain, officials acknowledge the inflow. “Many Americans come, and there are many love stories,” said Spanish government spokeswoman Elma Saiz Delgado. “After four glasses of wine, they stay.”

Education trends reflect the shift. International students coming to America fell 17 per cent last autumn and are expected to decline further. At the same time, more Americans are enrolling in European universities. Applications for British citizenship reached 6,600 in the year to March 2025. Irish passports issued to Americans hit 31,825 in 2024 and an estimated 40,000 last year.

“In Albania, you can very easily right now survive on $1,000 a month,” said Kelly McCoy, who moved from New York state and now advises other Americans considering relocation.

The last time more people left the United States than moved in was 1935, when many Americans sought work in the Soviet Union during the Great Depression. Census historical data records that episode as a rare moment when America became a country of net emigration, the financial daily reported.

IANS