Native New Yorker explains why she had to move to Alabama to achieve the ‘American dream’
A native New Yorker had to leave her home after the city’s skyrocketing cost of living had made it impossible for her to achieve the American dream of opening her own business.
“It’s really hard to rectify this idea we’ve been sold of in the United States that you can have and do whatever you want if you work hard enough, and then living in a place where it doesn’t matter how hard you work, you’re never going to get these things,” Laura Newman, an Alabama business owner, told Fox News. “People are starting to notice that in larger cities that’s simply not possible to have both of those things.”
Some major cities were already struggling with an exodus of residents, but faced even larger population declines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York City, for example, lost over 100,000 residents from 2017 to 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
MyEListing.com, an online real estate portal, studied IRS migration data and found that New York experienced the second-biggest drop next to California in 2021 IRS tax revenue due to residents moving.
The Big Apple lost just under $300 million from its yearly tax base.
“I think everyone has this American dream of being their own boss and getting to own something on their own and that just wasn’t possible in New York fiscally for me,” Newman said. “Any time I saved enough money the goal post would move.”
Some have credited the mass city exodus’ to many companies going remote during the pandemic, but Newman made her decision beforehand after being fed up with the high cost of living and inability to open her own business.
She packed her bags and moved from New York City to Birmingham, A.L., with her husband in Spring 2017.
“It just wasn’t possible at all,” Newman said. “Whereas, in Birmingham, A.L., I have no investors, no other owners. It’s just me and I love it.”
In less than two years, Newman opened her first bar called Queen’s Park in November 2019.
In 2021, she opened a second bar called Neon Moon, which she refers to as a “five-star dive bar” or” redneck nightclub.”
“What I love about Birmingham is that because it’s less expensive, there’s room to kind of experiment,” she said. “I think honestly, that’s what really spurs great entrepreneurship and business ownership. People can open this crazy concept that maybe on paper sounds nuts, but actually ends up being super successful.”
Aside from not being able to afford her own business, Newman said the high cost of living made it impossible to enjoy the Big Apple’s food and entertainment.
She was working seven days a week and eating instant ramen and potatoes to save cash.
“It’s so expensive,” Newman said. “As much as I loved New York… what’s the point of living there if you can’t afford to do any of this stuff? It seemed like tourists and friends visiting from cheaper places to live were the only ones doing those things.”
The Alabama business owner said it’s nice to be able to go out to dinner and not worry about making rent at the end of the month since her move.
“I feel so much less anxiety about money living in Alabama,” she said. “The difference in cost of living made a huge difference and was a really big selling point for leaving New York.”
Currently, the overall median rent in New York City, stands at $2,213 for October 2023, which is more than double of Birmingham’s median rent at $1,049, according to Apartment List. The median rent cost in New York City is over 60% higher than the national average.
“I hate to sound super materialistic, but owning a house is pretty cool,” she said. “I actually have a car. It’s very convenient.”
“Gas is so much cheaper,” she continued. “My property taxes are cheaper.”
New York’s Manhattan borough has the country’s highest overall cost of living at 225.8, according to the Quarter 2, 2023 Cost of Living Index.
Meanwhile, Birmingham’s cost of living index stands at 91.2, nearly 10% below the national average.
“I loved growing up in New York,” Newman said. “I consider myself so lucky to have grown up there but if I decide to have children… I couldn’t afford to raise them in New York. I would love to, but I wouldn’t be able to afford to.”
Newman told Fox News Digital her friends and family keep asking when she will move back to Manhattan.
“I’m still not 100% sure I would move back even if I didn’t have the bars,” she said. “The cost of living difference is really nice. It’s hard to give that up.”
