How To Make Friends in a New City | 5 Ways To Build A Community

Moving to a new city is a great way to learn, grow, and to get out of your comfort zone. It can be an amazing way to experience new cultures, languages, and to meet new people. That said, moving to a new city can also be a challenge, especially if you are moving somewhere you don’t know anyone.

In the past six years, I have had the opportunity to live in five different cities for various periods of time. Each time I moved, I didn’t know anyone, and I had to learn how to make friends in a new city.

I’m a big believer that how much you love a city is directly proportional to how strong the community you have there is. So after going through this process quite a few times, I’m sharing my best advice on how to make friends in a new city.

If you’re living in a new city and still haven’t met your people, here are a few tips to help you meet new friends. 

5 Tips on How To Make Friends in a New City:

1. Go to Meetups.

One of the best ways I’ve found to make friends a new city is by attending organized meet-ups. The name itself is pretty self-explanatory: you meet up with people over coffee, drinks, or for an activity, depending on the group’s interests. Often, the attendees are also new to the city and are there for the same reason you are: to meet new people and make friends. As always, if you’re planning to attend a meet-up alone, make sure you vet the place you’re going to beforehand and arrange an easy way to get home. That covered, here are a few resources to find meet-ups in your new city:

Meetup.com

Meetup.com is a website designed to bring people with similar interests together. Since it’s a fairly well-known platform, the meet-ups that I’ve been to have been well attended. You can find anything and everything on Meetup.com, from photography groups to extreme sports and skydiving fans.

There are also monthly and bi-weekly events such as Mundo Lingo, which is a meet-up for practicing languages. Mundo Lingo holds meet-ups worldwide, and many events are held at restaurants and bars, which is great if you want to get to know the nightlife in your new city.

Couchsurfing.com

I’ve used couchsurfing.com for a place to stay once while I was traveling with friends in France. Personally, for safety reasons, I wouldn’t use it if I was traveling alone. However, it is a great resource for meet-ups. You can find tons of different events, from house parties to pub crawls to coffee dates. I’ve met some great people in different cities this way.

Facebook groups

Facebook groups can be a great means of connecting with like-minded people because they’re tailored to specific interests, such as travel, fashion, blogging, etc. So you know from the start that you have something in common with the people in the group. For this reason, Facebook groups can also be great for networking professionally.

Travel specific groups are particularly great because the members are usually in the same boat as you: they’ve recently moved and are looking to make friends in a new city. 

Create your own meet-up 

You don’t necessarily have to wait for an organized event to come up either. Ask if there’s anyone within the group that’s based in your new city that would be willing to meet up for coffee.

2. Network

It’s a small world, and a lot of the time we overlook how many people we actually know. If you’re brand spanking new to a city, and you don’t know anyone, it might be worth it to reach out to friends elsewhere to see if they have any contacts in your city. 

3. Join clubs & classes

It’s so important to get involved in your new community in some way. Not only is this a great way to expand your network and make friends in a new city, but it also helps you to understand the culture of the place. Having a regular class or activity to attend will help you get out of the house and explore when you first arrive in a new city.

4. Volunteer

Volunteering is an awesome way to meet people who are involved in their communities,  and who have similar interests. Volunteering opportunities exist just about everywhere. All sorts of events, from fashion shows to festivals, need volunteers. You can get a backstage pass to some of the coolest events in your city, or get involved in a charitable organization that can give you a better understanding of your new city as a whole. 

5. Attend events

Finally, attending events can be an amazing way to meet friends in a new city. It can be daunting to go to events by yourself, which is why most people don’t. But if you’ve just moved to a new city by yourself, you’ve already taken the hardest step. Websites like Eventbrite can be a great resource for finding everything from professional skill-building events to concerts and anything in between.

If you’re struggling to make friends in a new city, my advice is to take the pressure off of yourself, and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Sometimes the adjustment period in a new city is a little longer than in others. 

Remember, traveling is an adventure, and it has its ups and downs. Every city has something great to offer- it’s just a matter of finding your people. 

If you have moved to a new city, what did you do to meet new friends? Let us know in the comments below!

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