Our “Where Next?” survey explored how the Oat Milk Elite thinks about moving: not just where they might go, but what those choices say about class position, taste, and the trade-offs people are willing to make. The results point to a group that is generally house-proud yet restless, with relocation plans shaped as much by personal aspiration and identity as by financial realities.
The results indicate that, speaking generally, we are house proud, geographically skittish, and moderately discontent – a situation compounded by current mortgage rates, which have slowed movement and intensified our focus on whether a move will deliver cultural fit and status or, alternatively, a lifestyle upgrade. Upon closer inspection, the data suggests (perhaps predictably) that housing attitudes reflect not only varied personal aspirations, but varied family aspirations.
Semi-Rich and Stuck
Though neighborhood satisfaction is strongly correlated with net worth across most wealth brackets, people with a net worth of $750K-$1M – disproportionately coastal professionals with household incomes between $200K-$500K[3] – were less fond of their neighborhoods and less likely to want to live in wealthy neighborhoods. They were also much more likely than others to want to live abroad.
This specific group of white-collar grinders seems to be concerned about personal ROI on significant spend. This graph looks like burnout expressed in terms of housing.
Clusters and Cosmopolitanism
With few exceptions, respondents either wanted to live in the “Martini Cluster” (New York, Boston, London, Paris, and San Francisco) or the “Sweet Tea Cluster” (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Raleigh, and New Orleans). Respondents who favored coastal cities (and Europe) already lived in coastal cities. Respondents who favored the southern and midwestern cities tended to live in those regions. Most midwesterners just wanted to live in Chicago.
Also, Californians prefer San Francisco to Los Angeles, which seems kinda nuts but to each their own….
Culture and Capital
The desire for unique architecture negatively correlated with the desire for low taxes – mediated by middle-income earners ($75,000-$149,999) desire for low-taxes and indifference to aesthetics as well design snobs’ strong preference for wealthy neighborhoods.
Interestingly, some 71% of those who reported caring about architecture expressed pride in their town or neighborhood versus 58% or others. That group was also more likely to know local business owners. This group seems to see housing as a source of identity as well as an asset class and someplace to go when it rains.
Preferences and Pride
Housing preferences appear more varied than they are in any one geography or income bracket. The strongest negative correlation in the survey is between wanting to live in the city and wanting to live in the country and those in the highest wealth bracket had much stronger cultural preferences than those in the lowest wealthy bracket. They could afford them.
Implications
Housing attitudes mirror broader class dynamics. The semi-rich—net worth between $750K and $1M—emerge as the most ambivalent, less attached to their current neighborhoods yet also less eager to join the wealthiest enclaves, often looking abroad instead. This suggests a cohort that can afford options but feels constrained by the ROI on major life changes, with relocation fantasies doubling as a proxy for burnout.
Preferences tend to cluster geographically—either toward dense, prestige-laden metros or warm-weather growth cities—with respondents overwhelmingly favoring places that resemble their current environment. Cultural values also filter housing choice: those who prize architecture are more rooted, more engaged locally, and more likely to see home as an expression of identity as well as an asset. In a high-rate, high-cost market, moves are less about financial optimization and more about aligning geography with self-concept.
