I left the US for Serbia. My rent dropped from $2,000 to $650, and my income rose.
A personal account of a 25-year-old who moved from the US to Serbia to improve her financial situation and quality of life. The article details the bureaucratic and cultural challenges of the move, alongside the benefits of a lower cost of living and a favorable tax environment for freelancers.
Why it matters
It highlights the growing trend of digital nomadism and the economic motivations driving young professionals to seek opportunities outside of the US.
Daria Ershova. Anna Krashenina Daria Ershova moved from the Phoenix area to Belgrade, Serbia, in 2025. Living in Belgrade offers her a more affordable lifestyle with reduced rent and expenses. She faced language barriers and bureaucratic hurdles and says she misses the food in Arizona. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Daria Ershova, a 25-year-old brand communications consultant based in Belgrade, Serbia. The following has been edited for length and clarity. I was born in Russia and moved to the US on my own for school at 16, first to Northern California for two years, then to Arizona for about seven years. I had various social media and marketing internships in the Phoenix area, and, in May 2024, I was hired from my internship at the Italian Association of Arizona as the part-time marketing coordinator.
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