Americans are rethinking where they want to live

Otherwise, I am not sure where to draw the line between a grocery and a supermarket.

It used to be that groceries were smaller shops with fewer categories of goods and less range within those categories -- they didn't sell toiletries, or light bulbs, or paper plates, or socks. Rice came in white and brown.

But around 10 years ago the large supermarkets started to take over shops this size, except with the same building they can use more floor space for retail. Their well-run logistics means they can deliver to them every day or two, so the smaller shop doesn't need a large stock room to maintain a wide range. Therefore, the smaller/independent general grocery businesses have mostly gone, but I can choose from perhaps 8-10 kinds of rice, compared to the 16-20 they have at the largest stores. The 8-10 kinds will be varied according to the area.

I do 80% of my shopping at one of these shops, 15% at another one (when I fancy a change, or walk home a different way), and less than 5% at a supermarket large enough to sell toasters, toys, televisions and t-shirts.

Houses in Britain with enough space will put it a different room, often called a utility room, scullery or laundry room. That would be difficult to find in London.

(Apartments in Denmark will put it in the bathroom, since the building regulations require a floor drain in case of leaks.)

Infrastructure, transparency, and just shit working is really amazing in the USA. Plus, access to USA markets is incredible. Being able to have same day delivery of groceries is mind blowing to people abroad. So, I really consider all of it, not just roads and bridges, as part of our 'infrastructure' and it's really good in the USA.

That being said, there are a lot of things that money can't buy, and culture is one of those things that's virtually priceless. It just takes time to develop. I don't mean to imply the USA doesn't have culture, of course it does, but it doesn't have X, or Y, or Z country's cultures.

I stayed in Mexico for about 11 months for example and I can honestly say I just 'felt' happier. Yes, sometimes I was super pissed because everything was broken: sometimes there's not water, power is constantly browning out (I really mean on a continuous basis), and the government in the south of mexico can be a mess. These kinds of things get perpetuated and affect the citizens as well over generations... yet still, Mexican culture was amazing and I enjoyed my quality of life there.

This is unfortunately something that's hard to put into numbers, but obviously there are proxies for it like the numbeo list in this thread. It's a personal subject though ultimately, because it's a qualitative assessment, so that's why I hesitated to "speculate", but thanks for asking :-)

That being said, I'm now in Italy and I got to say I like it even more here. Northern Italy in so many ways has the best that all of Europe has to offer. You can basically drink the alps on tap, any where you go, people are super duper smart, kind, hilarious, passionate, and then there's the food and all that other stuff. It's a lot more expensive here (for reference one could live easily in the south of mexico, like Oaxaca City, for about $500 USD if they wanted or $800 USD if they didn't feel like messing around with finding an affordable place), but it's also much cheaper than living in San Francisco was, and again the quality of life is much higher.

I actually think in general professionals will reach a point in the USA where they'll start spreading out, just like this article says, but it won't be limited to domestic destinations. Other countries, with aging populations, will start to attract these people, and they'll go abroad and start businesses and families. This is how the world has always worked. Italy for example was the pinnacle of the world now 2 times in history, they're kind of used to it, but the USA is just beginning its journey.

Sorry, that was probably a little meandering, bear with me, but hopefully that's satisfactory? I'm totally happy to talk more, I'm just not sure what people are interested in hearing, if anything haha. Ok have a nice day everyone.