# How far away from where you grew up do you live now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2019, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382 "2019-08-09T00:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/61 "2019-08-09T14:20:26Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Thanks for the replies, everyone. Maybe moving wont be as life-altering as I’ve feared. It certainly seems to be the most common experience. Once upon a time people were born, raised, grew old, and died all basically within a 50 mile circle. Not everyone but that was thought of as the norm. If you had family spread across the country you were actually a sort of local attraction. These days, with work/jobs and all being what they are, it seems like we’re back to moving around almost like hunter/gatherers. I’ve lived thousands of miles away; I just seem to keep ending up somewhere in the PA/NY/WVA/OH area. Its because of work, connections, and comfort with the geography but its something. Now where I grew up ------ I’ve had chances to and passed on them. I love Edwardsville but I love the memories of what it was more than what it is now. For me, my life, where I am now is OK. Offer subject to change without notice and my mileage next month may be totally different. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/62 "2019-08-09T14:21:35Z")
About 100 miles. Farthest away was about 175 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/63 "2019-08-09T14:25:33Z")
835 mi ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/64 "2019-08-09T14:31:41Z")
7 miles, according to google maps. But I work even closer, and could actually see my childhood home from my desk if they cut down a couple of trees. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/65 "2019-08-09T14:51:12Z")
848 miles. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/66 "2019-08-09T16:28:32Z")
Around 15 or 20 miles. I’ve never lived anywhere but the island where I was born. But Montreal is such a cool place that I don’t want to leave. There’s enough variety and weirdness and coolness on this island that it’s enough for me. 🙂 I like travelling, but there’s no place like home. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/67 "2019-08-09T16:31:55Z")
About 60 miles. I grew up on the south side of Chicago (Beverly) and now live in a far western suburb (Elgin). ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/68 "2019-08-09T16:36:22Z")
1200 crow-miles and about 22 hours driving per Google. I could never go back. The area of Maryland where and _when_ I grew up was rural. About 20 or so extended family members lived nearby. People mostly had regular jobs but almost everyone raised chickens or hogs, or grew tobacco or corn on a small scale. It was a kind of Timmy and Lassie childhood(I even had a collie who followed me everywhere as I rode my bike), but not as remote - malls and stores were just 30-45 minutes away. Now they would be 5 minutes away and everything else is housing developments and apartment complexes. The nearest farms are thirty miles away. The only family left are first-cousins-once-removed who I never really knew. To be fair, it had started changing before I moved away, but I was an adult by then. I just don’t recognize it as “home” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/69 "2019-08-09T16:37:27Z")
Hard to say, since I “grew up” in different places ( we moved a lot ) Best I can do is say I now live just about shy of 700 miles from where I graduated high school. When I was a grade school kid, I though everybody moved a lot. In 5th or 6th grade once the teacher went around the room and asked how long everybody lived there: I was amazed at how many said “all my life”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/70 "2019-08-09T16:44:39Z")
Currently, I’m a 15-20 minute bike ride from the house I grew up in, where my mom still lives. EDIT: And the route from my place to Mom’s house takes me right past the hospital (now converted to a nursing home) where I was born. The furthest I’ve ever lived was in Montana, somewhere over a thousand miles away. I moved back specifically because I wanted to be closer to family. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/71 "2019-08-09T16:49:56Z")
I live about 4 miles from where I grew up. Why did I stay? Well, first off because both my husband’s family and mine are in the area. Second, because my job requires that I live in NYS, and most of the jobs in my agency are in the NYC area. And most importantly ( but related to #1) , I couldn’t have had the lifestyle I wanted any other place. Other places are cities , and other places are walkable and have public transportation , and I could have been happy living in any city I’ve visited - but only in NYC could my mother have cared for my children and my sisters’ children while we worked, which resulted in cousins who are as close as siblings. Now that retirement is approaching, my reasons have somewhat changed - but only in that the family I’m staying near is no longer parents/siblings/grandparents/aunts and uncles. Now it’s my kids, one of whom lives in Queens and one who lives just over the bridge in NJ. If they should ever move to widely separated places, I would probably move to a warmer place. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/72 "2019-08-09T16:51:00Z")
360 miles. I moved from Southern California to Northern California with a few years in Ohio in between. Both of my sisters ended up farther away. I still have cousins who live near the old place, so I can visit. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/73 "2019-08-09T16:58:38Z")
4,969 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/74 "2019-08-09T17:01:32Z")
Zero miles. My parents bought this house when I was 5, grew up here, graduated high school, went away to college. Got married and divorced, got married and divorced again and became a single dad with two sons to raise. About the same time that I really needed childcare help, my mom needed to retire and wouldn’t be able to keep the house by herself. I bought the house, she retired debt free with no household bills. I moved home, raised kids, got married again (I really should stop that). Mom is gone now and the kids are grown and we are living in the house I grew up in. Even if I begin to lose my mind in old age, I will always be able to find the bathroom here. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/75 "2019-08-09T17:18:54Z")
As the crow flies, I live about 27 miles from the house I grew up in. Google Maps says it’s 37 miles by road, and 50 minutes’ driving time. Since this is in the DC area, the ‘50 minutes’ part sounds optimistic if it’s not a Sunday morning. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/76 "2019-08-09T17:52:30Z")
When my parents got married, they moved 1950 miles west of Ohio (PNW). When I got married, I moved 5250 miles east of them (middle of Europe). The joke is that I’m less than an hour’s drive from my multi-great grandfather’s birthplace. So it only took 400 years to get back. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/77 "2019-08-09T19:54:59Z")
Well, only about 20 miles away. But my hometown grew up with me. When I was in high school there was a herd of cows that regularly broke their bounds and tied up traffic in the center of town. (Often coinciding with math exams, in fact.) Now, it’s basically a part of Washington, DC, with 15-story office buildings everywhere you look. So I didn’t have to leave in order to find something different. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/78 "2019-08-09T19:56:22Z")
About 750 miles. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/79 "2019-08-09T20:01:50Z")
We moved around a lot when I was a kid. Right now I am about 1000 miles (1600 km) from where I went to high school. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382/80 "2019-08-09T20:02:33Z")
2800 miles, give or take. From the Baltimore suburbs to the Seattle outskirts. Interesting to note that I’ve lived in my current house (20 years) longer than I lived in all the places I “grew up” combined. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-from-where-you-grew-up-do-you-live-now/838382.md?page=5)