Moving to a New City

1. Get to know your roommates

Over the years, we’ve heard tons of stories from roommates who became best friends through living together. House sharing is a great way to form new friendships as people are often in a similar situation and will be keen to meet new people too.

Why not suggest grabbing a drink or picking a spot in the city to scope out together? And if you don’t fancy leaving the house, ask if your roommate wants to watch a movie, or cook a little extra dinner and offer them a plate. All are great icebreakers and could be the start of an amazing friendship!

2. Choose the right place

The city you live in can massively impact your lifestyle, so it's important to do your research before actually committing to moving. For example, if you’re an outdoorsy person, you’re more likely to thrive in a city with open space. Or if having good coffee and shops nearby is important to you, then it makes sense to find a city with a bit more hustle to make you feel at home.

If you’re keen to make new friends, SpareRoom data,* revealed that San Antonio, Charlotte, Phoenix, Austin, and Dallas were the top cities where roommates were interested in meeting new people and socializing. Want to see where your future home ranks? Click HERE to view the full list.

3. Get to know your colleagues

You probably see and speak to your colleagues more than most other people, so make the effort to get to know them better. If you’re in the office, try to coordinate lunch breaks to eat together or suggest going for a drink after work. You might just find someone you want to hang out with at the weekend too.

4. Join a team or club

Whether it’s running or extreme frisbee you’re into, your city probably has a team you can join – a quick Google search should do the job. But if team sports aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other clubs that might be more your speed. Check out Eventbrite, Facebook, and even keep an eye out for flyers in coffee shops for craft groups, walking clubs, book clubs, and more! If you can think of it, there’s probably a club for it.

5. Try an app

Group activities can be a little daunting, especially when you don’t know anyone to begin with. If this sounds like you, then building a friendship over a message first might be a little easier. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Bumble BFF (an additional feature of the very popular Bumble dating app) allows users to swipe their way to a new bestie. It uses the same matching algorithms for friendship as it does for dating, so you can be paired with people who have similar interests to you.
• Nextdoor is a website that instantly connects you to your local community - neighbors, businesses, and public services. It’s a great app to receive recommendations and buy and sell, but most importantly, it helps you to build connections with neighbors!
• Geneva is a group chat app that helps to connect you with similar-minded people near you. You can join a group chat or set up your own to attend events and meetups.

When meeting strangers for the first time do so safely, preferably with a group in a public space, and always tell someone where you’re going.

Once you’ve found new friendships, make sure you stick to regular meet-ups to keep the momentum going and you’ll soon end up with a solid support network.