Questions to Ask When Relocating for a Job
For anyone weighing an offer or a transfer that means moving cities: 55 questions to ask about job relocation, some for the employer and a good half for yourself and the people moving with you. They run in the order the decision goes: the package, the job in that office, the sums, the place, your household, and what happens if it goes wrong.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The package
What exactly does the relocation package cover, and is it a lump sum or reimbursement?
Why ask it
A lump sum is yours to allocate, and it has to stretch over every cost on your list. Reimbursement means paying first and keeping receipts against the policy's eligible expenses, so find out which one this is before the movers send their invoice.
Is any of the relocation money repayable if I leave within a year or two?
Why ask it
Clawback clauses are common and often sit in a separate agreement from the offer letter. Ask for the repayment period and whether it applies if the company lets you go, which is the version that catches people out.
Is the relocation money taxed, and does the company cover that tax?
Why ask it
In some countries a relocation payment counts as income, so the headline figure can shrink once payroll has run it. Covering that tax is called grossing up. Ask payroll how it works where you will be paid, and what the amount comes to after tax.
Will you cover temporary housing, and for how long?
Why ask it
Thirty days sounds generous until you meet a rental market that wants credit history and references you do not yet have locally. The answer tells you whether you can look for a home in person or must sign something sight unseen.
Who handles the move itself, and does that include storage and my car?
Why ask it
Some packages book a full-service mover, some hand you a budget and a list of vendors. Storage, a vehicle and pets are the lines to raise by name, since each is expensive to arrange at short notice.
How soon do you need me in the new city, and what is that date built around?
Why ask it
A date tied to a project launch or a training class is hard to move, and a date someone picked to fill in a form usually is not. Knowing which one it is tells you whether you can ask for the weeks it takes to finish a lease or a school term.
Is this the standard policy for my level, and who can approve an exception?
Why ask it
Some employers keep one policy for new hires and another for internal transfers, and vary both by grade, so a colleague's account of what they received may not describe your offer. Ask for the policy by name, and for the person who signs off exceptions, because a request for a longer stay in temporary housing ends up on that desk.
Can I visit before I answer, and can my partner come on that trip?
Why ask it
The person who is not taking the job is the one arriving with nothing waiting for them, so their view of the place counts at least as much as yours. A funded visit for two is a small request next to the cost of a move that gets reversed.
Can I work from my current city part of the time, and can that go in writing?
Why ask it
If the plan is one week a month back home, or a slow start while a lease runs out, ask who pays for the travel and how long the arrangement lasts. A pattern agreed in conversation and absent from the offer is one you may have to win again later.
If I need a visa or work permit, who arranges and pays for it, and would my partner be allowed to work?
Why ask it
Timelines can run to months, a dependent's right to work varies by country and permit type, and the permit is often tied to the employer. Ask how it works for the country in question, since it decides when you can start and how free you are to change jobs afterward.
The job there
Why does this role need to be in that city?
Why ask it
A good answer names something concrete: a lab, a client, a plant, a team that works around one whiteboard. A vague one about culture suggests the location is somebody's preference, and preferences change when the person holding them does.
How much of the team is in this office, and how much is elsewhere?
Why ask it
Relocating to sit in a room where most meetings still happen on video is a disappointment you can see coming. Ask for a rough count of the people you would work with every day and which of them are in the building.
Where does my manager sit, and how often would we be in the same room?
Why ask it
Moving to be near an office is one thing, and moving to be near the person who decides your work is another. If your manager is based in a different city, ask who in the building would know what you do all day.
How many days a week are people really in the office, whatever the policy says?
Why ask it
A written three-day rule and a floor that is empty by Thursday are different working lives. The real pattern also sets how far out you can live, because a long commute twice a week is bearable in a way that five times is not.
How long has this office been there, and is its headcount going up or down?
Why ask it
You are about to tie your address to a building, so its direction matters as much as the role's. Ask how long the lease runs and whether teams have been moved in or out lately; a manager who does not know can find out.
Who else has relocated for this role, and can I talk to one of them?
Why ask it
A company that has done this before has a process, a relocation contact and people who can describe what the package missed. Being the first is workable, but you should know that going in.
What does the promotion path look like from this office specifically?
Why ask it
Satellite offices sometimes have a ceiling that headquarters does not, with senior roles filled elsewhere. Ask who was last promoted here and into what.
How long do people tend to stay in this office, and why did the last few leave?
Why ask it
Put it to a future colleague as well as the manager, since the two accounts can differ. If people who relocated for the job tend to go within a couple of years, find out whether it was the work or the place that sent them.
If I turn the move down, what happens to the job I have now?
Why ask it
This one is for a transfer inside your current company. Sometimes the role is moving whether you go or not, and then the real choice is between relocating and leaving, which deserves to be said out loud before you weigh anything else.
Would I take this job if it were in the city I live in now?
Why ask it
A question for you alone. If the answer is no, the destination is carrying the decision, and if it is yes but you would never choose that city, the job is. Either can be fine, as long as you know which one you are moving for.
The sums
How does this salary compare once I have priced rent, taxes and commuting where I would actually live?
Why ask it
A cost-of-living calculator works from a metro average, and you will not be living in an average. Price one real listing in a neighborhood you could commute from and set the new take-home pay against it before calling the offer a raise.
Is the pay set for that location, or is it the same figure wherever I sit?
Why ask it
Some employers band salaries by region and some pay one rate everywhere. If yours is banded, ask what would happen to the number if you later moved again or went remote, so that a raise tied to an address does not surprise you in reverse.
What state, city or local taxes will I owe that I do not pay now?
Why ask it
Local income tax, property tax passed on through rent and vehicle registration fees differ from place to place, and together they can swallow a raise. Payroll can usually model the take-home figure for the new location if you ask.
What would this move cost me if the company paid nothing?
Why ask it
Add up movers, deposits, a month of paying rent in two places, travel and the furniture that will not survive the trip. That total is the figure to hold the package against, and the gap between the two is what you are negotiating over.
What does it cost me to leave where I am now?
Why ask it
Count a lease break or a sale, a notice period, any bonus or unvested award you walk away from, and anything your current employer could ask you to repay. Some new employers will make up part of that, but only against a figure you can show them.
How much cash do I need on hand before the first reimbursement or paycheck arrives?
Why ask it
Deposits, the first month's rent and the movers' balance tend to fall due within the same two weeks, often before the new payroll has run once. Work out the most you would be out of pocket on any single day, and ask for an advance if it is more than you hold.
Do I sell my current home, rent it out, or keep the lease running for a while?
Why ask it
Each choice runs on its own clock: a sale has to complete, a tenant has to be found, a lease has a notice period. Renting the place out keeps a way back and also makes you a landlord from another city, so check the tax and legal side where you live before choosing.
What will insurance, utilities and childcare cost there compared with here?
Why ask it
These bills move with the address and nobody puts them in an offer. Get real quotes for a street in the area you are considering, including heating or cooling in the worst season, and ask a daycare or after-school program about its waiting list as well as its fees.
If we are down to one income for six months, do the numbers still work?
Why ask it
Run this test before trusting any other figure, because a partner's job search in a new place has no fixed length. A budget that only balances with both salaries from the first month is a risk to plan for together, not a reason to stop.
The place
How long is the commute at the time I would actually be traveling?
Why ask it
Distance says almost nothing without the hour attached. Ask someone to describe their own door-to-door trip on a Tuesday morning, including parking or the transfer between lines, rather than accepting a mileage figure.
Where do people on the team live, and would they choose the same area again?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful part. Colleagues will tell you which suburb they picked for the school and now regret for the drive, and which one they wish they had looked at before signing.
Should we rent first, and for how long, before deciding where to settle?
Why ask it
A short-term rental or a six-month lease buys time to learn the place on foot, through one bad season and a few ordinary weeks. Check that the package's deadline for using its housing help does not run out before you are ready to choose.
What are the school options near the neighborhoods we could afford?
Why ask it
Enrollment rules, catchment boundaries and waiting lists differ enough between districts that this has to be checked locally. For a family it can narrow the housing search more than the budget does.
When does health coverage start there, and how hard is it to find a doctor taking new patients?
Why ask it
Where coverage comes through the employer, ask the date it begins and whether that leaves a gap after your current plan ends. Networks and registration rules are local, so check whether a specialist you see now or a regular prescription can carry on in the new place.
Would I need a car there, or a second one?
Why ask it
A household that manages with one car or none in a dense city can need two where the office sits off a highway. That is a purchase, an insurance policy and a parking space to add to the sums before you compare salaries.
What is the hardest season there, and how do people who live there get through it?
Why ask it
Visits get scheduled for the good months. Ask a future colleague what August or February is really like, what it does to the commute and the energy bill, and what they do with the children when nobody can be outside.
Which licenses and registrations have to change when my address does?
Why ask it
A driver's license, car registration and insurance are routine. A professional license for nursing, teaching, law or a trade may not carry over between states or countries, so ask the licensing body there how long it takes, for you and for a partner whose work depends on one.
What would an ordinary Wednesday look like for me there, from the alarm to getting home?
Why ask it
Walking through one plain day shows the gaps a list of amenities hides: who does the school run, where lunch comes from, what time you would be back, what you would do after. If the day you describe is one you would want, that counts for more than any ranking of cities.
Your household
Does everyone who would be moving actually want to go?
Why ask it
Ask each person separately, including children old enough to have a view, and before the decision is made. A reluctant yes given to keep the peace tends to surface later, at the point when going back is most expensive.
What is the plan for my partner's work?
Why ask it
A second career put on hold is a cost of the move, even though it appears on nobody's offer letter. Some employers pay for job search support or make introductions, and the time to ask is before you sign.
At what point in the school year would the children move?
Why ask it
A move at the summer break and a move in the middle of an exam year are different things to ask of a child. If the start date clashes with the calendar, a later start is a small thing to ask an employer for.
Do we all move together, or does one of us go ahead first?
Why ask it
Going ahead alone lets the new job start on time while a house sells or a term ends. It also means two sets of bills and weekends spent traveling, so agree an end date for the arrangement before it begins.
What help do we get for free here that we would have to pay for there?
Why ask it
Grandparents who do the Thursday pickup, a neighbor who feeds the cat, a friend who happens to be a plumber. Put a monthly price on replacing each one, since it is a real cost of relocating and no salary comparison includes it.
Who relies on us being where we are now?
Why ask it
It might be an aging parent, a sibling who shares the care with you, or a child from an earlier relationship whose time is set by a custody arrangement. Talk to them before you accept, and where a court order or a care plan is involved, find out what a move would require under the rules where you live.
How often could we get back, and what does one trip cost for the whole household?
Why ask it
Price a real journey for everyone at a holiday weekend, with the hours door to door. Flights and a rental car several times a year are a line in the budget, and a nine-hour drive is a different kind of distance from a ninety-minute flight.
What do we each do here every week that we could not do there?
Why ask it
Name the particular things: the Thursday choir, the climbing wall, the trail twenty minutes from the door, dinner at a friend's table. Look up which of them have an equivalent in the new place, because the ones without are what each of you will be homesick for.
What happens to our pets during the move and in temporary housing?
Why ask it
Corporate apartments and many rentals restrict animals by size, breed or number, and airlines set their own rules for flying them. Ask the employer what the temporary housing allows before it is booked, and ask your vet what the journey needs.
Who would I call there on a bad Sunday in the first three months?
Why ask it
If the honest answer is nobody, that is no reason to refuse, but it is something to prepare for. A club, a faith community, a sports league or one colleague you get along with is worth lining up before the boxes are unpacked.
If it goes wrong
If this office closed or the role moved again, what would the company offer me?
Why ask it
Some employers pay for a second move or drop the repayment clause when the change is theirs, and some offer only their usual severance terms. The answer shows how much to commit in the first year, starting with whether to buy or rent.
How many other employers in that city hire for what I do?
Why ask it
A one-company town leaves you facing a second move if this job ends, while a deep local market lets you change employer and keep your address. Search current openings for your own job title there; ten minutes of that answers it better than anyone's opinion.
What would it cost to move back, and could we cover it without the company?
Why ask it
Add the return move to any relocation money you would have to repay, since both bills can land together. If that total is more than your savings, the first year carries a risk that deserves a number and a plan.
What can I keep open as a way back?
Why ask it
A home rented out instead of sold, a leave of absence where your current employer offers one, a manager who has said the door is open. None of them is a promise, but each makes the decision easier to reverse while you find out whether it was right.
What am I hoping this move will fix that a new city cannot?
Why ask it
Boredom with the work, a strained relationship or a general wish for a fresh start will make the journey with you. Naming that hope beforehand keeps you from blaming the city for something that came in the boxes.
What will we look at after a year to decide whether to stay?
Why ask it
Pick the measures now, while nobody is homesick or defensive: savings, your partner's work, how the children are doing, whether you have people to see on the weekend. A date in the calendar turns a vague unease into a conversation you already agreed to have.
Which of these answers do I have in writing, and which only from a phone call?
Why ask it
Go back through your notes and mark each one. The hiring manager who made a promise may not be your manager in a year, so anything that would change your decision belongs in the offer letter or the relocation agreement before you resign from where you are.
Working through the decision
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who to put each question to
HR or the recruiter: the policy and the dates
Questions to ask about relocation terms belong with whoever owns the policy, which is rarely the hiring manager. Ask HR or the recruiter for the document itself, the repayment agreement and the name of the person who approves exceptions, and get the answers by email so they can be found later.
Payroll: anything involving tax
Take-home pay at the new address, whether relocation money is taxed and whether the company covers that tax are payroll questions. The treatment depends on the country and sometimes the state, so ask how it works there and treat a recruiter's summary as a starting point.
The manager and the team: the job and the place
Your future manager can say why the role sits in that city and where the office is heading. The people who would sit beside you are the ones to ask about commutes, neighborhoods and the hardest season, and they answer more freely over coffee than across an interview table.
Your own household: what no employer can answer
Around half of this list has no employer answer at all. Set aside an evening for the household and way-back questions with everyone who is moving, before the offer deadline, and write down what you agreed.
Before you accept
Visit midweek, not on a company tour
Go on an ordinary Tuesday, do the commute at the real hour, stand in the neighborhoods you can afford rather than the ones on the relocation brochure, and shop in a supermarket to see local prices.
Get the relocation terms as a document
Ask for the policy itself, not a summary in an email. Read it for the clawback period, the reimbursement deadlines, what counts as an eligible expense and whether the payment is grossed up for tax.
Talk to two people who already moved
Ask what the package did not cover and what surprised them in the first three months. This is the closest thing to a straight answer you will get about the location and the office.
Doing the arithmetic
- 1Price rent or a mortgage for a specific commutable neighborhood, not a metro average.
- 2Ask payroll for a take-home estimate at the new location, including state and local tax.
- 3Add the commute cost: parking, transit pass, tolls, or a second car if the area needs one.
- 4Add the bills that change with the address: insurance, utilities and childcare.
- 5Count one-off costs: movers, deposits, an overlapping month of rent, vehicle registration, furniture.
- 6Subtract any income your partner loses while job hunting, and estimate how long that lasts.
- 7Compare the result to what you keep today, then decide whether the gap is worth the disruption.
Where people get caught
Treating a lump sum as a bonus
It is often taxable, depending on where you are, and it usually has to cover more than expected. Allocate it against a written list of costs before deciding whether any of it is spare.
Missing the clawback clause
If the job goes wrong in month ten, repaying relocation costs can trap you in a role you want to leave. Know the number and the date.
Buying a home in the first year
Selling again soon after buying can mean paying the transaction costs twice, and you will not know the neighborhoods properly for months. If you are unsure, renting first is the mistake that costs less to undo.
Deciding alone
The job can go well and the move still fail on the parts of life outside work: a partner without a job, a teenager who did not want to move, isolation from family. Those need discussing before the offer is accepted, not after the boxes arrive.