On the move

Relocating an option for salary-driven employees

Sasha Benes says she doesn’t like to admit it, but she left Chicago in 2014 because of the weather. “Sounds terrible, right?” says the 29-year-old teacher in Lakeland, Fla. “I have a low tolerance for cold, and working in Chicago in January and February was hard.”

So Benes took her college roommate’s advice and looked for a job in the Sunshine State. “It didn’t take long,” says Benes. “I started looking in April, was hired in May and moved in June.”

Benes says the instability of public education in Illinois was also a factor in her decision to move. “It’s funny — well, sad actually,” she says. “I look at the news in Chicago now and it’s the same as it was when I left — schools fighting for scraps for their teachers. Florida isn’t perfect when it comes to education, but at least I don’t feel like the state’s out to get me.”

Benes’ combination of reasons — she says she also made the move for less expensive housing and to get a fresh start after a bad breakup — is similar to the factors cited by numerous employees and prospective employees who head out of town for a new job.

“Relocations are based on opportunity and lifestyle,” says Aaron Brent, a career adviser in San Diego. “People move to make more money or to improve their day-to-day experience. There are a lot of other reasons, of course, like family and friends, but I would say 90 percent of the people I work with want to move for a job or for a total change of scenery.”

A recent ZipRecruiter survey indicated that 66 percent of respondents relocated to increase their salaries. No other reason, aside from “other” at 16 percent, was even close: 6 percent moved for cheaper housing; 5 percent for more available jobs; 4 percent for a better sense of community; 2 percent for good weather and 1 percent for better schools.

Bright lights, big cities

If you are looking for a change of scenery, you might as well go big. “You don’t hear of people relocating to places like Wichita, Kan., that often,” says Brent, 38. “Obviously, there aren’t as many jobs in Wichita as there are in cities like San Diego, but even if there were, people who move want to make big changes. That’s why New York, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles are always going to be job destinations.”

The ZipRecruiter survey supports Brent’s claims: The four cities he mentions are in the top 10 relocation destinations for job seekers. “I moved from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to New York about 10 years ago to follow a girl and to find a job,” Brent says. “I didn’t get the girl but got the job, and within a year they asked me to move to Los Angeles to help open a temporary employment agency. I jumped at it.”

Two years later, Brent says he and a friend moved to San Diego to begin their own career consulting group. “It was a tough decision because I was just starting to figure out the L.A. workflow — lots of temporary gigs in the creative fields — but I fell in love with San Diego. It’s like a downsized, cleaner Los Angeles, so I made the move.”

Road trips

Brent’s journey from Los Angeles to San Diego reflects a relocation trend: the local move. “I moved from Philadelphia to Allentown for a job, then Allentown to Morristown, N.J., then Morristown to Harrisburg, Penn.” says Marsha Avila, a 51-year-old sales representative. “I have family and friends in Philadelphia — my heart is in Philly, actually — but I don’t like living there. I’ve moved around a bit to try new things, but I’ve never been more than a couple of hours away.”

For some, the short-distance relocations are the most sought after. “A lot of people want a change of scenery, but they don’t want to make a major move,” says Brent. “You see a lot of East Coast people move in a two- to three-hour radius of their original city. You see people from Minneapolis relocate to Milwaukee or Chicago. It’s a few hours, but it’s not the edge of the world. You can still get back and forth to your home base without much effort.”

With an increase in telecommuting, Brent thinks large-scale relocations may hold steady or even drop. “It’s unlikely a company will pay a person to move to a new city if that person can work from home,” he says. “I’ve seen plenty of new jobs that would have required a new hire to move. Now, most employers are pretty flexible. They’ll allow new hires to work remotely. That was unheard of 10 years ago. Pretty soon, it’s going to be the norm in a lot of industries.”