# Shortest distance between places you've lived? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395 "2015-04-23T22:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/1 "2015-04-23T22:10:17Z")
We’ve talked about the [farthest distance between places you’ve lived](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=755030). What’s the _shortest_ distance between any two different places you’ve considered “home”? Rules: Moving back to the same address, e.g. your parents’ house, doesn’t count as “zero,” however moving from the main house to a separate building on the property, e.g. a guest house, or a basement apartment, does. Moving to a different apartment within the same building counts. I’d say the key factor is that they are two separate, complete dwellings. Twice I moved about 3 suburban neighborhood blocks. Call it about a quarter of a mile. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/2 "2015-04-23T22:39:28Z")
Last weekend I moved 18.2 miles from New York (State) to Connecticut. First time I’ve moved a shorter distance than I could walk in a day. I’m no the same train line and go past the old place on my daily commute. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/3 "2015-04-23T22:44:56Z")
Google Maps puts it at 0.2 miles, and it was in consecutive moves. We moved from one apartment complex to another one right down the street. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/4 "2015-04-23T22:45:45Z")
Many years ago, I moved in with my future wife in a studio apartment. A couple of months later we moved across the hall into a one bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/5 "2015-04-23T22:48:57Z")
I can’t recall exactly which building our apartment was in before we bought the house we’re in now, so it’s somewhere between 3500 and 3700 feet, so call it .7 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/6 "2015-04-23T22:49:09Z")
I probably tie for fourth, since once time I moved from an apartment to the house cater corner across the street. The only thing closer would be a house next door, or a house directly across the street, or another apartment in the same complex. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/7 "2015-04-23T22:51:40Z")
Within the same apartment building: I moved to the apt. just across from my previous one. Maybe six feet, from door to door. From one separate building to another, less than a third of a mile. That was when I moved away from home the first time to an apartment down the street. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/8 "2015-04-23T22:52:19Z")
I suppose moving from one dorm room to another doesn’t count? In which case I moved from a rental on E55th street in Chicago to a Co-op on S Hyde Park Blvd which was less than half a mile. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/9 "2015-04-23T23:01:33Z")
I once moved from one house to the house next door, each time sharing the rent with other students – but a different group in each case. Conversely, the longest would be either Leeds or London in England to Newcastle or Sydney in Australia. That means that my ratio between longest and shortest is going to be pretty hard to beat. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/10 "2015-04-23T23:03:50Z")
Not sure of the exact distances but I’ve lived, throughout the years, in, let’s see…at least four different houses in the county I currently live in. It’s a pretty good-sized county but this isn’t California or Texas (and _their_ “gigantor” counties) I’m talkin’ about! (Let’s see…putting a little more thought into this - a couple of the places I lived in back in the '90s couldn’t have been more than about 3 miles [if that] away from one another so that’s probably my answer right there) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/11 "2015-04-23T23:19:51Z")
I once moved from an apartment building into a house that was about a thousand feet away. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/12 "2015-04-23T23:21:56Z")
About a mile and a half. Not consecutive moves though, I bought a house that was close to the first apartment I moved into in that town. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/13 "2015-04-23T23:35:16Z")
A block and a half from our last apartment to our house. As the crow flies shorter. Most of the stuff we carried door to door. It’s the closest house to our old apartment building. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/14 "2015-04-24T00:55:40Z")
A few blocks, from one apartment in the complex to another, smaller one on the other end. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/15 "2015-04-24T01:03:40Z")
From a dorm to a house. Slightly less than a half-mile. Non-college, 2.66 miles. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/16 "2015-04-24T01:06:12Z")
From front door to front door? Um…less than 1/8 of a mile. I moved from a townhouse to a one-bedroom flat within the same apartment complex. I did another move to a two-bedroom flat after that when a friend wanted a roommate. One’s 20s are fun! ---
**Author:** ![Cognoscant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Cognoscant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cognoscant)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/17 "2015-04-24T01:07:07Z")
I lived in four different rooms in the same dorm building at various times, on all three floors of the building (not counting the basement where there were no living rooms). At another college I lived in three different rooms of the same dorm building. “Stayed in school too long” doesn’t tell the half of it. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/18 "2015-04-24T01:12:11Z")
The first house we bought was 2 blocks from the apartment we were living in. That’s my shortest move, and the last move I ever made that could be done with a car. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/19 "2015-04-24T01:45:20Z")
We were living in a rental house and bought the house next door. And yes, part of the fence in the backyard did come down temporarily. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/20 "2015-04-24T01:57:10Z")
I spent my uni student days in six different shared rental houses/apartments all in the same postcode. 2034. None were “line of sight from” the other but a 30 minute walk would have done the circuit. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395.md?page=2)