A TikTok video, a private message, and a departure: the website of the American public radio station NPR documents a clear trend, that of Americans moving to Southeast Asia, attracted by lower cost of living and the opportunity to work remotely.
The numbers are significant: the number of Americans living in the region has grown from about 32,000 in 1990 to nearly 88,000 in 2024, not including several countries – suggesting the actual total is higher. Especially, a cited study indicates that in 2025, the United States could experience negative net migration for the first time in at least half a century.
In Da Nang, Chad Dunn has benefited from this trend. A former worker, he now helps his compatriots settle in.
“I can pick you up at the airport, get you a phone, a bank account, and set you up in an apartment in less than a week. It’s becoming very popular,” he says.
His clients often discover him on TikTok, where he shows his daily life and outlines the steps to follow.
For Mia Moore, a 37-year-old nutritionist, the move is part of a slower evolution. She describes the pressure felt in the United States: “Every day revolved around this question: how to make more money and maintain this standard of living?” Settled in Vietnam, she emphasizes the concrete change in material conditions. “I pay about a fifth of what I paid for rent.” And she specifies, “a bowl of pho near me costs about 2 dollars; even with extra toppings, about 4 dollars.”
These individual paths are part of a larger transformation in work. Brooke Erin Duffy, a communication professor at Cornell University, “thinks it’s part of a larger trend… especially with the rise of digital nomadism. More and more people are working remotely and seeking ways to integrate work into their lifestyle, rather than the other way around.” Social networks play a role in making these lifestyles visible.
But the article strongly nuances these stories. “The images circulating about life and work are filtered through a shiny prism,” emphasizes the academic. Behind these representations, expatriates often depend on dollar incomes and remain on the margins of local labor markets. Visas are of short duration, and installations are sometimes precarious. Chris Michaels recalls his early days in Thailand: “I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning thinking, ‘What have I done?'”
