More people moved out of the U.S. last year than moved in for the first time since the Great Depression as a record number of citizens moved abroad following Donald Trump’s return.
Although the U.S. government doesn’t collect official data on the number of citizens leaving, calculations from the Brookings Institution showed that net migration in 2025 was negative for the first time since 1935, and is expected to get worse in 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The drop-off was partly due to Trump’s immigration crackdown, but data on residence permits, foreign home purchases, student enrollments, and other metrics from more than 50 countries suggest at least 180,000 Americans were also part of the exodus, the Journal reported.
The number is likely to be even higher once other countries report full statistics.
Almost all of the European Union’s 27 member states now have a record number of U.S. citizens living and working there, and the government has a months-long backlog of Americans asking to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
The trend has been building for years thanks in part to the rise of remote work, higher living costs, and social media, but departures have spiked during Trump’s second term, according to the Journal.
Dozens of expats told the newspaper they were motivated by a combination of economics and lifestyle considerations, with many citing concerns about politics, affordability, and violent crime—including school shootings—in the U.S.
Many said Trump’s re-election was a factor in their decision, though some said they had voted for the president.
About 10,000 people moved to Ireland from the U.S. last year, or double the number who came in 2024, while more Americans moved to Germany in 2025 than vice versa, the Journal reported.
In a sign that they plan to stay, a record 6,600 Americans applied for British passports last year, while an estimated 40,000 Americans secured Irish passports.
The result is that Americans are overwhelming the housing markets in Europe and Asia as large U.S. communities develop in cities such as Lisbon, Portugal, Dublin, Ireland, and Bali, Indonesia. In some of Lisbon’s historical districts, home prices have doubled in the past five years.
More than 100,000 students have enrolled in foreign universities, where degrees are more affordable, and nursing homes across the Mexican border are offering elderly Americans low-cost care.
A White House spokesperson told the Journal the U.S. economy was far outpacing other developed nations, and that the Trump administration was deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants while attracting “countless ultra-high net worth foreigners,” who are “shelling out $1 million for a Gold Card to come settle in the United States.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to the White House for comment.
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