A software CEO ditched Chicago for a Midwestern college town and said the move was 'huge upgrade' for his whole family

• Software firm CEO Ravi Bhatt moved his family from Chicago to Bloomington, Indiana, in 2021.
• Bhatt said living in the mid-sized college town improved his family's quality of life.
• His kids are getting more playdates and he's building more personal connections.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ravi Bhatt, 44,  about his experience moving from Chicago to Bloomington, Indiana, in 2021. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My wife and I spent almost 20 years in Chicago. But like many people during COVID, we started to think more broadly about where we wanted to live.

In Chicago, we, along with our two children, lived in a 1700-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo in Lincoln Park, an affluent North Side community just a 12-minute drive from the city's downtown area.

My wife and I questioned our long-term planning —  'what does life look like 10 years from now, or 20 years from now?' We wondered if living in Chicago would afford us an early retirement, if we had a strong sense of community, and whether or not our children were thriving in the city.

We decided to leave Chicago. It's an idea that was made possible by remote work.

I am the CEO of software company Folia. In 2021, when the company was launched, we made the decision to allow everyone to work 100% remotely. My wife, who is a practicing civil rights attorney for a nonprofit firm, also shared this flexibility. 

We wanted to relocate to a place that punched above its weight class — somewhere small and intimate but that still had all the qualities we loved about living in a big city. Due to our professions, my wife and I thought that university towns had a nice appeal.  

In the spring of 2021, my family and I moved to Bloomington, Indiana, a Midwestern city of 85,000 people, home to Indiana University Bloomington. It's about 55 miles south of Indianapolis and nearly four hours away from Chicago. 

Why I chose Bloomington 

My wife and I attended undergrad in Bloomington, so we already had a bit of familiarity with it. The city is certainly no Chicago or New York, but it's way better than an average 80,000- to 100,000-person town. 

What made the area attractive to us was that Indiana University Bloomington is a major research university. My background is in artificial intelligence and the city is one of the major places for pursuing this type of research.

Moving to Bloomington also comes with other intangible factors with respect to business, such as working closely with the university and building connections. Another cool thing about living in the city is that many people have bachelor's degrees or higher, so you're around a lot of educated people and professionals.

How our life has changed 

Our family home is a little bit in the woods. When you look into the backyard, you're not seeing skyscrapers, instead there are rolling hills and many trees.

While we are paying more for our home in Bloomington than we were in Chicago, we have moved into a place that is more spacious. If we're talking about the square footage, the new home — a six-bed and six-bath — is a quarter of the cost and has enough space for grandparents to visit. 

In terms of work, relocating has not made anything easier professionally.

A lot of people are stressed out about work and think life will become easier once they get out of the big city. However, most people will end up working remotely for their same employers. So you will still need the same hustle, just in a different place.

That being said, we're living in a time of human history where we have access to the most resources, information, education, and technology. This is the time when we can be geographically flexible if we want to, and I encourage people to explore.

Our quality of life has improved

There's been a lot made of this idea that people are relocating merely for cost. I think that's masking a couple of other factors. 

Has my quality of life improved in Bloomington? Well, yes and no. It's certainly improved the quality of life for the kids —  I think it's a huge upgrade. 

In a city like Chicago, when you're trying to pick up kids and go on a playdate, logistics of moving a car around the city are never easy. It's nice to be able to walk out of your home and be directly in an urban environment. My children are getting more friendly kids' time in Bloomington. 

For the adults, we do from time to time think about what we are missing in the big city. However, we have to remind ourselves that when we lived in Chicago, we were not actually enjoying all the things that the city had to offer because of the convenience factor — like having a 30- to 40-minute commute, even for something that's a mile and a half away. 

Although there's a little less from an abstract perspective, living in Bloomington is absolutely more flexible. And while this may seem like the biggest cliche in the world, you do build more personal connections in a smaller town than living in a big city. 

A week after we moved in, there was a big snowfall and we were snowed in nearly a foot. We didn't own a snow shovel, since basically, to this point, lawn care was just an academic exercise we never got to do ourselves. Our neighbor —  who we didn't even know —  just came with their snow plow and cleared our driveway.

In Bloomington, there's a natural difference in how you relate to people and that also drives the quality of life. It makes you feel more a part of the community.