I moved from New York to Connecticut - and returned in under two years

I lasted less than two years living in Connecticut before I decided to move back to New York City, where I plan to stay. The first time I set foot in Brooklyn was in 2019 to look at an apartment; I was 23, felt like I'd arrived, and moved into a shoebox $900-a-month room with Craigslist roommates.

Over the next seven years I bounced between North Brooklyn dwellings as rent rose faster than inflation, and by May 2023 I was paying $1,900 to live with two roommates in a basement that tended to flood. About six months after my grandmother died, her home on the Connecticut/Rhode Island border was about to sit empty for the summer.

Between that, my dislike for my job and the end of my lease, I took it as a sign. I applied for seasonal restaurant work, sold my bed frame, desk and dresser, loaded my late grandmother's Jeep with what remained, and put New York in the rearview. For a while I felt like I was thriving.

United States, Brooklyn; Connecticut

new york, connecticut, brooklyn, rent, roommates, craigslist, grandmother, rhode island, basement, seasonal work