I’ll never forget what it felt like to tell the New York Times reporter, “We feel stuck.”
It was July 2024, and I was being interviewed for a piece about how childcare costs are limiting women’s ability to work and build careers. I was one of several moms they featured, and I shared our reality without sugarcoating it: despite doing everything we were “supposed” to do, my husband Alex and I were struggling to make ends meet as a family of four in Chicago.
That interview put words to something I’d been carrying quietly for almost a year. And today I want to go even deeper because what that article couldn’t fully capture was the math, the emotional weight, and the moment we decided the answer wasn’t another job application. The answer was Mexico.
What “Stuck” Actually Looked Like for Us
We weren’t lazy. We weren’t waiting for a miracle. We were strategic in ways most people don’t even attempt.
We owned a three-unit investment property in Chicago and chose to live in the smallest unit, a one-bedroom apartment, so our renters would essentially cover the mortgage. House hacking, they call it. We budgeted carefully. I spent close to a year applying for full-time jobs. Alex pursued internal promotions and raises. We paid off our car to reduce monthly obligations.
And still, we were about $25,000 short every year.
Here’s the math that broke us down. A two-bedroom apartment in Chicago runs $1,800 to $2,400 a month. Groceries for a family of four? About $1,000 a month. Healthcare premiums alone cost thousands annually. Transportation, insurance, and gas, even with a paid-off car, ran us $400 to $500 a month.
And childcare? In Illinois, families spend anywhere between $24,000 and $32,000 per year. The cheapest daycare I found for just Mateo was $1,400 a month. Diego’s after-school care would have added another $1,000.
On a combined income of roughly $75,000 a year, the numbers simply didn’t add up. The real threshold for affording life in Chicago as a family of four is closer to $100,000. We were living in a $25,000 deficit, mind you, while being rent-free.
The Systemic Wall I Kept Hitting
What made it harder was the layer of identity I was carrying through all of this. As a second-generation Latina, I grew up watching my parents sacrifice everything for the “American Dream”. I was supposed to be the living proof that it worked. Instead, I felt like a failure.
But here’s what I eventually came to understand: this isn’t a personal failing. It’s a systemic one. The motherhood penalty is real. The childcare crisis is real. And for women of color and first-generation professionals, these systems compound in ways that aren’t talked about nearly enough. My “stuck” wasn’t a mindset problem. It was a math problem built by policy.
The Ultimatum That Changed Everything
By February of last year, Alex and I had been talking about Mexico for months. Two years earlier, we’d spent a month in Mexico and got a real glimpse of what daily life could look like. We had the research. We had the conversations. But we weren’t ready to commit until I had one final job interview.
I told Alex: if I get this job, we stay. If I don’t, we move to Mexico.
I didn’t get the job. And honestly? That was the answer we needed.
The Real Numbers in León, Guanajuato
We chose León because it reminded us of Chicago, a real city with infrastructure, culture, and community, not a tourist bubble. And the cost comparison changed everything.
We rent a three-bedroom house for about $1,100 a month, compared to Chicago’s minimum of $1,800 for a two-bedroom. That’s $700 in savings every single month, with more space. A doctor’s appointment with an ultrasound and a full hour with my OB cost me 1,000 pesos, about $50 USD. Groceries run about $480 a month versus $1,000 in Chicago. And childcare? Mateo’s Montessori daycare, one of the oldest and most reputable schools in León, is $180 a month. Both boys’ tuition combined is $360. In Chicago, I was quoted $1,400 for one child alone.
Let that sink in.
What the Move Actually Changed
I want to be honest: moving didn’t solve everything. Mexico isn’t a magic fix. But what we have now – what we didn’t have in Chicago – is breathing room. We’re not constantly calculating what we can and can’t afford. We go out for coffee. We take the kids for a meal without mentally tallying the budget impact. We are living, not just surviving.
And beyond the finances, Mexico is deeply family-centric. My kids are growing up in an environment where community comes first, where their culture isn’t something they have to explain or defend.
If you’re a first or second-generation Latina reading this, you already have a leg up. You have culture, family, language, and very possibly dual citizenship. What you need is a strategy, not a miracle. Join my free Moving to Mexico Discord community or book a 1-on-1 consultation with me. Let’s build your roadmap together.
Show Notes
In July 2024, I was featured in The New York Times in an article about how childcare costs are limiting women’s ability to work. The headline captured exactly how we felt at the time: stuck.
In this solo episode, I share the real story behind that moment and how my family made the strategic decision to move from Chicago to León, Guanajuato. I break down the real cost of living for a family of four in the U.S., the childcare math that so many moms are quietly navigating, and the mindset shift that helped us stop blaming ourselves and start thinking strategically.
If you’ve ever looked at your numbers and thought, “Why does this feel impossible?”, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Hear:
- The reality many moms are experiencing with childcare and work
- The real cost of living for a family of four in Chicago (and why the math didn’t work for us)
- How childcare costs can create a hidden barrier for women trying to re-enter the workforce
- The mindset shift that helped us not feel stuck
- How moving to Mexico created breathing room for our family financially and emotionally
Resources Mentioned:
- New York Times feature (July 2024)
- Episode 151: 3 Things You Must Do Before Moving Abroad
- Free Moving to Mexico Discord Community
- 1-on-1 Moving to Mexico Consultation
- Wall Street Journal on Americans relocating abroad
About Jessica Cuevas
Jessica is the founder and creator of Viva la Mami, LLC a community centered around Latina motherhood. Jessica created this platform after not finding empowering stories about experiences of Latina moms. She realized that there was a lack of representation in this space and felt there was a need for mamis to share their stories and to learn more about the nuances about motherhood through a cultural lens.
Viva la Mami’s mission is to empower the modern Latina mom to redefine the meaning of madrehood through education, story-telling, and cultural relevance all while bringing comunidad together.
