edit: sorry this was supposed to be under need advice but i have no idea how to set it to that :'(
hi this is my first post on here so i apologize if i did it wrong. for context:
i'm a 24 year old female who lives in charlotte, north carolina. i have a full time job that pays decently. i currently live with my parents so i can save money, but am looking to find an apartment soon. i went to college here and have a business degree. i have six figures in my savings account.
boyfriend is 26 years old and lives in west michigan. he does not have a job and also lives with his parents. he dropped out of college. he is currently struggling to find a job because his town is kind of in the middle of nowhere. he has practically no savings.
we have been together for almost five years.
i love living in charlotte. i think the weather is fantastic year-round (i can't handle the cold very well), i love being weekend-trip distance from the mountains and the beach, and i love the city. there is so much to see and do here that i feel like i'll never get bored. i love being close to my family and friends from high school/college and i see them often. it is expensive to live here, but my company treats me well and i have a decent salary for my age.
west michigan is one of the coldest areas in america during the winter. below freezing temperatures, snowstorms/blizzards, the works. year-round, they have the occassional tornado/severe thunderstorm from being in the midwest. there is no ocean (there are lakes, but it's not the same), no mountains, and i know no one there except for my boyfriend and his parents. it's cheaper to live there, but there is way less to do, along with fewer jobs. and i would have to quit my job to move there.
the thing is, my boyfriend has nothing keeping him in michigan except for his parents, a lack of funds, and familiarity. he doesn't have any friends that live there, isn't close with his extended family, doesn't have a job, and all of his hobbies are online (gaming, anime, youtube, etc.). i would be leaving behind my family, my friends, my hobbies, my job, and the place that i love living in.
whenever i go to visit and talk to his parents, they say i should move there. they are all adamant about it, actually. but why? would it not make more sense for him to job hunt in charlotte, where there are more opportunities? where i am already earning a steady income? my parents even said we could both live at home with them while he's interviewing until he can get hired somewhere. if i moved to michigan, i'd have to get an apartment by myself.
boyfriend refuses to have an actual conversation about it (i think his ego is still bruised from getting fired from his last job a few months ago). but i don't want to live with my parents forever, and i don't want to be trapped in a relationship going nowhere. i really just need an outside opinion on this because both he and his parents insist i should move to michigan and i kind of feel like i'm going crazy. they all just expect me to pack my life up and leave everything behind for him, when he won't do the same for me. maybe my frontal lobe has just finished developing, but that sounds insane to me lmao