# How far do you & your sibs live from your parents (or you from your children)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163 "2008-05-30T16:26:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/1 "2008-05-30T16:26:03Z")
Inspired by numerous gas-related treads, I’m curious to how far various countries’ residents live from their parents. My guess is that large, homogeneous countries like the USA encourage families to scatter more than residents of smaller countries. So, how far do you live from your parents, or, conversely, how far do you live from your adult children? I live 1024 miles from my parents. Per Mapquest, my sisters live 290, 246, & 465 miles from my parents. That’s an average of 506 miles between my parents and their children. So, by country, what’s your family’s average? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/2 "2008-05-30T16:31:54Z")
As the crow flies, I’m 1505 miles from my father and my sister. My brother lives 5894 miles away. My other sister is 9370 miles from here. That’s an average of 4568.5 miles away. I’m an outlier, I think. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/3 "2008-05-30T16:38:02Z")
I live 11,731 (18,887) miles from my brother and parents. My brother and parents live in the same city. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/4 "2008-05-30T16:38:59Z")
Me: about 31 miles, door to door. Ditto for my brothers and sister. Mrs. Homie: About 225 miles, door to door. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/5 "2008-05-30T16:42:00Z")
I used to live 1,276 miles from my parents. Now I live five blocks away from them. One sister lives about ten miles away, another about twenty, and my youngest sister is still at home. Not counting 19-year old Katie, that’s an average of a little under twelve miles. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/6 "2008-05-30T16:46:42Z")
Two miles. I don’t have any siblings. I have been further away, though, in college. About 500, then. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/7 "2008-05-30T16:50:41Z")
Depending on time of year, I live either 7965 miles or 5661 miles from my brothers., but after September, I hope to be only 3 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/8 "2008-05-30T16:52:11Z")
We all live in the same state. Two of my sisters and I live within 15-20 miles of both parents (they are divorced). My other sister is about 130 miles away. That averages somewhere around 40-48 miles, give or take. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/9 "2008-05-30T16:56:03Z")
My parents live about 20 miles away. My brother lives in California ☹ , so he’s about 2700 miles away. My husband’s siblings both live within 5 miles of us. I think families being scattered so far apart is one of the saddest trends of the 20th century. Of course, back when folks were coming through Ellis Island and going west on the Oregon Trail, there were a lot of family separations, too. But it seems much more common to move thousands of miles away from loved ones now. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/10 "2008-05-30T16:58:03Z")
Straight line (or, as the crow flies) is exactly 1997.12 miles between me and my parents. I don’t know my brothers exact address, so between him and parents is about 400 miles. My sister is doing a summer job near me, so around the same for her. Youngest brother is only 15 so still lives at home. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/11 "2008-05-30T17:02:51Z")
My family all lives in the Chicago area. I went all the way to Quincy IL, about 300 miles, to college, the only one of my siblings to leave the Chicago area for school, but returned to Chicago and lived there until two years ago. I now live about 800 miles away in North Carolina. I believe that in a few months one of my nieces will be attending vet school in Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/12 "2008-05-30T17:06:33Z")
When my parents were alive, I never lived more than 350 miles from them. I have one sibling about 500 miles away and another 1,850 miles away. My wife lives 550 miles away from her parents and one sibling, 667 miles from the other. However, both of her siblings lived in Asia for several years, about 13,000 miles away. ETA: I also have one child who lives 300 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/13 "2008-05-30T17:08:24Z")
According to Mapquest, I am 446.6 miles from my parents and my sisters are 510.45 and 512.12 miles from them. That’s an average of 489.72. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/14 "2008-05-30T17:09:57Z")
According to Google Maps, I’m more than a 10,000 miles drive from my father, my brother, and three of my children. (That includes about 8,000 miles by kayak). With my other son, he’s about 5,000 miles in the other direction from here, as the crow flies (if the crow can last that long). ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/15 "2008-05-30T17:12:00Z")
Eh. Maybe fifteen, twenty feet from my mom if you go bedroom to bedroom. Before that (based on the house I’m currently getting ready to sell), about fifty miles. My dad’s about 35 miles away right now. After the house sells, possibly 1200 miles from either one, depending on how things work out. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Machine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Ice\_Machine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Machine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/16 "2008-05-30T17:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=sandra\_nz] I live 11,731 (18,887) miles from my brother and parents. My brother and parents live in the same city. [/QUOTE] That is literally about as far as you can get since Earth’s circumference is just shy of 25K miles. I’m at 1531 driving and my sister is 21 miles (my sister is actually only a couple miles from where we grew up, my mom moved back to her hometown). My wife is 7,936 miles as the crow flies. Her sister and brother (along with his wife) live with her parents. The other sister is only about a mile away from her parents. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/17 "2008-05-30T17:29:02Z")
I’m in Maryland, 575 miles from most of my family back in the Montreal area. My sister moved out to Vancouver a couple of years ago, so she’s 3050 miles from “home”. I miss them a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Contrary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Contrary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrary)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/18 "2008-05-30T17:39:18Z")
I’m currently in KC and live 1366 miles from my parents in Idaho. I have a sister in England, one in Colorado (603 miles away) and a brother also here in KC (22 miles from my front door). My husband is in Boston (1431 miles away, and where I will be in a month). I have one son in the Detroit area (808 miles from me) and one in Nashville (553 miles away). So yeah I think we are pretty scattered. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/19 "2008-05-30T17:46:54Z")
I live about 10 blocks (less than half a mile) away from my parents, well within walking distance. My wife’s three sisters are all still in NYC also, though dispersed to the “outer boroughs” (her parents live on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, while their four daughters have set up homes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens). It’s good to be close to family. When I was growing up, all my relatives were literally on the other side of the world from NYC (in Taiwan and China), with my closest relatives being my cousins who used to live in White Plains, NY (about 45 mintes away) but then moved to Phoenix, AZ and then to Sacramento, CA when I was 6. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163/20 "2008-05-30T17:54:12Z")
Mom is all of 12.73 miles away, so no problem there. My sister is in Grand Junction, Colorado though. Good thing we don’t feel the need to see each other too often. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-do-you-your-sibs-live-from-your-parents-or-you-from-your-children/451163.md?page=2)